From Hunted to Hunter
by KiloActual
Summary: While searching the ruins of one of Earth's old cities, a wondering Ghost finally finds his Guardian.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

_Earth, New York, Manhattan_

A lone ghost moves nimbly around the wrecks of cars and trucks scanning skeletons and any other remains of life in hopes of finding someone or something that wield the Traveller's light as a weapon against the Darkness and its minions.

"Wait, can it be?" the Ghost said scanning the remains and expanding, having its outer shell orbit around its eye. In a flash of light, a person appears, a young man, to be more specific.

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Guardian's POV

_Manhattan, During the Collapse_

You're vision starts getting hazy and you're breaths are short and labored. You place your hand on your chest and bring it up to your face to look at it, only to find it covered in blood, YOUR blood. That's right, you're dying. The Darkness has consumed this part of the world and its minions are slaughtering the what's left of the civilians and soldiers trying to evacuating. So this is the fall of humanity. Its was only a matter time of before the Darkness reached Earth. They had lost contact the with the colonies long ago, conquered by the minions of the Darkness.

You tilt your head to see the civilians you and what's left of the marines in the area were ordered to protect, being cut down by the Fallen. You see your best friend, who's been your spotter and partner for years, about to be impaled onto a Vandal's Shock Blade. You grip your pistol, stand up and lean against a car wreck, and take aim. Firing the pistol, you put a hole into the Vandal's head. Unfortunately, the recoil is enough to cause you to slide down the car to the floor. You drop your pistol and look up toward the sky and see a gap in the smoke and clouds and see the sky.

You hear someone run up to and out of the corner of you're partner runs up to and start to shake you. "Come on, dude. We got to go. Get up." he says trying to get you on your feet. When he realizes that you're body is limb, he begins to tear up and takes your dog tags off your neck, says a quick prayer for you and picks up you're pistol and sniper rifle and runs off to extraction point, looking back only once.

With the you're partner gone and your eyes lids growing heavier and heavier at each passing moment, you take one final look at the hole in your chest caused by a Stealth Vandal's Shock Blade. Finally, your eyes close and you drift off into sleep with the sounds of people screaming and gunfire filling your ears in the last moments of your life. The Darkness consumes you and everything goes black. With that, you are dead.

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Suddenly, a bright flash rips you away from the Darkness. You feel the hard floor beneath you and hear a voice trying to talk to you. As you open your eyes, your vision is blurry and sounds are distorted. Your hearing corrects itself after a few seconds so you attempt to stand up but quickly fail and fall back down.

"Careful, Guardian. You've been dead a long time. Take your time getting up. I scanned the area, we're should be safe for now." said the voice. You lift your head to see who was speaking, but instead come to face to face with a strange floating machine.

"What the hell?" you mutter as you aren't use to speaking yet. "What are you?"

"I am a Ghost. As of now, I'm your Ghost. It's a pleasure to meet you, Guardian." the Ghost says floating in front of you.

You take a moment to survey you're surroundings and see the ruins of decaying building.

"Where are we?" you say a bit louder as your voice begins to come back to you.

"According to old maps and records, we're in Manhattan, New York." your Ghost says observing you get your bearings. You try to stand up for a second time and succeed. You stretch and look down at your body and notice you're wearing armor that is foreign to you.

"What the hell am I wearing?" you say, projecting your thoughts.

"That, Guardian, this best armor I can create as of now. Not much I know, but it should last you until we get back to the tower. Just try not to get into any heavy firefights."

"Noted." you say before speaking again, "So what now?"

"Now we get you to the tower. Hold on, let's see if I can find you a weapon." says the ghost as it starts pulsating. "Okay, enter that building over there and on the fifth floor there's a loot chest that should have some weapons inside. Hang on, this may feel a bit... tingly." it says as it enter your body. You squirm a bit as it enters your chest. "Don't worry, I'm still here. You better get a move on. If I'm translating this correctly, the Fallen are still looking for us, well me actually. They don't know you exist...yet."

"Better make a good first impression." you say as you jog over to the building and hurry up the stairs until the third floor where you find the stairs to the next floor have been destroyed.

"Scans show another flight of on the other side of the floor. Hold up, I'm reading movement on this floor." your Ghost notifies you.

"Shit." you instinctively crouch down and brace yourself against the wall next to the door frame and peek out. "How many?"

"Motion trackers are pinging three hostiles. Try to avoid them. Otherwise, take them out quietly."

You nod your head and quietly slip out in to the large room, using the cubicles as cover. You make it a quarter of the way to the other side when a Dreg stops his patrol in front of you and turns his back to you. You silently walk behind the Dreg and snap its neck and catch its shock dagger before it hit the ground with you're foot.

"Nice save." the voice within you tells you. You gently put the lifeless corpse on the ground and continue moving through the remanent of the office floor. In the corner of your eye, you see movement and you talk cover once again in a cubicle this time hiding under the desk to keep out of the light. Another Dreg walks pass your hiding spot and you make your move. You cover the Dreg's mouth and stab it a couple of times to make sure its dead. As the dagger penetrates the dying Dreg for the last time, you hear a screech from behind you and spin around see the final Dreg. Before it had time to level its shock pistol, you throw the shock dagger and it embeds itself into the Dreg's head.

"Floor clear. Let's keep moving." says your Ghost. You proceed up to the next floor and make your way through the floor without any problem. When you arrive on the fifth floor you find that most of the cubicles were moved to block the windows and doors or were in pieces. By the window, you spot a chest and a sniper rifle.

"Let's see what we got." You open up the chest and find a revolver and some strange blue mineral. "What the hell is this?"

"That would be glimmer. It's a precious material nowadays. It's also used as currency. I got it." said the Ghost, materializing next to you and quickly scanning the glimmer as you put the Hand Cannon on your belt. "You know how to fire that sniper rifle?"

You pick up the sniper rifle, loading it and setting up the a sniping position on the floor, looking out through a hole in the wall."I'll take that as a yes."

"How many targets, Ghost?"

"14 in total. 8 Dregs, 4 Vandals, and 2 Captains." said Ghost, reentering your body.

You line up the scope with a Vandal's head. "Hope this make a good first impression." you say to no one in particular, squeezing the trigger and sending an arc round into the Vandal's skull.

**Author Notes**

**I came up with this awhile ago while in between chapters of my Halo story. I've always wondered who the Guardian were before they were Guardians. Now, I want to know what you guys think of the story. Do I continue it or leave it as a one-shot? If I do continue it, I'm probably not going to continue using the 1st person POV. **

**Disclaimer: Destiny doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Bungie and its respective developers.**

**Anyways, Thanks for reading my story or giving it a try if you didn't like. Commenting and reviewing, even the ones bashing this story are appreciated as I am still relatively new to writing. Hope you enjoyed the story. Thanks again for giving it a shot. Have a great day.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**

**So after putting some thought into this, playing ungodly amounts of Destiny because of Taken King, and suffering writers block on my other story, I've decided to continue this.**

**Disclaimer: Destiny belongs to Bungie and its respective developers. I own nothing except the characters of this story as well as the plot.**

_Earth, New York, Manhattan_

As the last crack of the Guardian's sniper rifle echoes throughout the overgrown streets of the derelict city, the last of the Fallen's hunting pack falls dead, it's soul leaving its body. The newly resurrected Guardian stands up, his Ghost appearing at his side, and observes the outcome the skirmish. Along the road the leading to him, Fallen corpses lay dead, most missing their heads. Picking up his sniper rifle, the Guardian unloads and checks the magazine to find it empty. Placing the sniper rifle on his back, which magnetically attached itself to him, the Guardian debates on what to do next. Seeing that the sun was setting, he doubted he wanted to be wandering around in the dark with the Fallen. Coming up with nothing, the Guardian figured that his Ghost knew what to do and decided to ask him.

"Hey Ghost, what do we do now?"

"For now, we wait. It's almost dark out and the Fallen thrive in the dark. In the morning, we'll figure out how to get you to the Tower. That should give us some time to talk and let me explain what's going on. Like I said before, you've been dead a long time, a lot has changed. Where do you want to begin?" Said the Ghost turning to face his Guardian.

"How about we start with me being dead a long time. What do you mean by that? How am I alive and why can't I remember anything before today? I can't even remember my own name." asked the Guardian.

"A reasonable place to start. You're alive right now because I resurrected you from the dead. You died during the Collapse, around the time of the evacuation of New York, if my scans are correct. Who you were before, I don't know. After the Collapse, humanity lost a lot of its records. As for your memory, from what I heard from other Guardians and Ghosts, most Guardians have trouble remembering who they were before being revived. Some Guardians regain their memories after awhile while some wander around searching for something that triggers their lost memories. Most never remember who they were or only have faint feelings of déjà vu. If you want, I can mark the locations you get that feeling from so we can investigate later and see if we can find anything?"

"Yeah, I'd like that. So why did you pick me? There must have been tons of other you've scanned, what makes me so special?"

"Because unlike all the other dead I've scanned, you have the ability to wield the Traveler's Light as weapon. All Guardians can wield the Light of the Traveler as a weapon to push back against the Darkness. There are three types of Guardians, Titans, Warlocks, and Hunters. You, my Guardian, are a Hunter. Hunters are the eyes and ears of the Tower in the wilderness. They're ones who spot if the Darkness is gathering to make an attack on the City and take it out or, if its too much for one Guardian to handle, call in to the Tower to have a fireteam take it out. They're daring scouts or stealthy killers, experts with knives and precision weapons. They'll use their speed and wits to get themselves out of a situation. They also tend to write their own laws because here in the wild, there are no rules. The Hunter Vanguard can explain things better when we get to the Tower."

"What about Warlocks?" asked the Hunter sitting on the floor.

"Warlocks are the more intellectual of the three classes. They're the warrior-scholars of the Light. Many devote themselves to understanding the secrets of the Traveler and the Old World. They are as strong as they are smart. Never underestimate a Warlock."

"And Titans?"

"If Hunters are the fastest and Warlock are the smartest, then Titans are the strongest. Titans were the first Guardians. They're the ones who lead the first people to the safe haven underneath the Traveler and built the first walls. Titans can take a lot of punishment and deliver it back ten fold. Many Titans serve the City as main defense. They serve as the military police of the City and when something threatens the City, Titans are usually the ones to face it head-on with brutal force. They are the blunt force instrument of the Traveler's will." Explained the Ghost.

"It seems I have a lot to learn. What else can you tell me?" asked the Hunter, removing his helmet. The Hunter had short dark brown hair and a light skin tone. His hair was flat being his helmet but was quickly corrected as the Hunter ran his fingers through his hair and pushed his bangs up. The Hunter then watched his helmet dematerialize into particles with a small flash of blue. "That's gonna take some getting use to." the Hunter muttered to himself before turning his attention back to his Ghost.

"I guess I'll start with me. I am Ghost, your Ghost now. I was born the moment the Traveler died. Since that moment, I have been searching for a Guardian, searching for you. After awhile, I thought I'd never find you. I watched for years as the other Ghosts found their Guardians. I had almost given up hope but then I found you. Its a good thing I found you too, otherwise the Fallen might have gotten me and that would not have been pleasant. It should be worth noting that I am very useful companion. I can open doors, scan the surrounding and provide a radar, receive and send out transmissions, revive you when if you were to die...again, and a few other things."

"Useful. I can't wait to see what else you can do." The Hunter said with a yawn. As he looked outside there was barely any sunlight left. "Hey Ghost, I'm going to see if I can get some rest. I'm pretty tired."

"By all means, go ahead. If I pick up anything on the radar, I'll wake you up." replied his Ghost. "When you wake up, I'll answer anymore questions you have and we'll try to figure out how to get you to the City."

"Thanks, Ghost." With that, the Hunter laid down, using his scarf as a head rest.

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Opening his eyes, the Hunter immediately realized there everywhere around him was pitch black yet he could see his body perfectly as if he was standing in a light. The next thing he noticed was that he wasn't in the armor he was resurrected in. Instead he was in old military fatigues. Over his chest was the black body armor with multiple pouches that held most clips of ammunition. His knees and elbows had padding on them as well as a patch on his upper arm that signified what he believed was his blood type and padded black fingerless gloves. As he continued to examine the outfit he noticed two patches attached on by Velcro. One was a flag that he seemed familiar to him and the other was name. Although his mind wouldn't process the name, it seem to strike him as something very familiar, a name he had seen many times before. Not being able to figure it out, he returned the patch to its place on the body arm and turned his attention to his surroundings. Seeing nothing but darkness all around him, the Hunter closed his eyes for a few moments. When he reopened them, to his surprises the scenery had changed from the nothingness that had once surrounded him to a lively city. He looked up and saw cloudless day with a vapor trails from planes, jumpships, and colony ships criss crossing the sky as well the tops of skyscrapers and other tall buildings reaching for the heavens. As he looked back down, he was no longer in his military fatigues, now he was casual civilian attire, a black sleeveless hoodie, a tee-shirt, cargo shorts, and sneakers. Feeling a tug on his hand, he looked forward to see a woman about his age pulling him along to a destination that he couldn't remember. The woman was skinny and had long black hair and tanned skin, wearing black shorts, a grey tee-shirt, and a black hoodie. When the woman turned and looked at him with dark brown eyes and smiled, the Hunter could have swore his heart skipped a beat and he gladly returned the smile.

When the Hunter blinked, he opened his eyes to see empty streets. The once blue sky was now red with smoke rising further and further into sky and ash gently drifting down like snow. The buildings that stood tall and proud only moments ago now were in states of complete disrepair, some of them collapsed into the streets, each other, or inward. The streets were broken up and cracked. The most unsettling thing for him, however, was the echoes of screams and gunfire from all around him. The screams of men, women, and children filled the streets, begging to be save or be spared moments before they turned into a cries of agony. The Hunter kept turning trying to find the source of the noise but to no avail. Not being able to find it, he took a shot in the dark and started running down a street. While he ran, he unholstered his sidearm as the noise seemed to be getting closer. When he arrived at the scene, he immediately regretted it. The streets were littered with corpses. The Fallen were cutting people down where they stood or shooting them as they tried running. The soldiers in the area were doing their best to try to stop the Fallen but they were fighting an losing battle. The Hunter recover from the shock and joined in the fight, however it was cut short as he had his attention focused on the Fallen in front of him, a Stealth Vandal snuck up behind him and plunged its blade through the Hunter's chest. As his vision had faded to black, the sounds of the people screaming echoed in his mind until he heard nothing at all.

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The Hunter awoke with a gasp, sitting up rapidly. As he sat up, he frantically searched his chest armor for any punctures. Finding nothing, the Hunter calmed himself and steadied his breathing and turned his attention to his Ghost, who was floating next to him, trying to get his attention.

"Guardian, are you okay? You're heart rate spiked." asked the Ghost

"Yeah I'm fine. I'm fine." the Hunter said, although he wasn't sure whether he was trying to reassure his Ghost or himself that he was okay.

"What happened to you? I've been trying to wake you up for awhile now."

The Hunter thought about the dream but the only thing that he could remember about the dream were the echoes of screaming. He couldn't remember who was screaming or why but the echoes were the only thing that stayed with him while the rest of the dream faded from his memories. While he thought about it, he felt increasingly guilty as if he had failed those people who were screaming.

"Guardian?" the Ghost said trying to get his Guardian's attention once more.

"Hm? Oh sorry Ghost. I had a bad dream and I was trying to remember what happened in it. Unfortunately, I can't remember anything except some echoes of people screaming." said the Hunter.

"Interesting." the Ghost said thinking about what the his Guardian had said. "I've talked to a few Guardians that have remember their past through dreams, you might have had one of those dreams. How did the dream make you feel?"

"Guilty. I don't know why but I feel guilty, like I failed those people, the ones screaming." explained the Hunter.

The Ghost went quiet, thinking once more about what his Guardian had said. Looking at his Guardian for a moment, he noticed that the Hunter was looking a bit down. "You know, if I had hands and a beard, I would be stroking it in thought." the Ghost said, trying to cheer up the Guardian. The Hunter snapped out of whatever thought he had and looked at his Ghost for a few moments with a bit of confusion before laughing as his mind processed the word the Ghost had said.

"Thanks, Ghost. I needed that." the Hunter said with a smile.

"No problem, Guardian. Don't worry too much about the dream, it'll come back to eventually and if it doesn't, well we'll just have to make new memories, won't we?" the Ghost said spinning in the air.

"Yeah, you're right. Now since I'm up and I don't feel or want to go back to sleep, mind if I ask a few more questions?"

"Not at all, Guardians. Ask away."

"Alright why don't you fill me in what's happened since I died." the Hunter asked his Ghost

"Alright, I hope you're comfortable, this is gonna be a long story." The Ghost said doing a little spin before going into the tale of battle between the Light and the Darkness. For rest of the night, the Ghost recalled all the events he had heard or witnessed since his creation, such as the Battle of Six Fronts to the Twilight Gap to the failed attempt to take back the moon from Crota and the Hive. He told the tales of legendary Guardians and their feats. From the crusade of Saint-14 against the Fallen and the host of Radagast and Jagi to reclaim five miles of lost land from the Fallen to the corruption of Dredgen Yor and the failed attempt to kill Crota by Eriana-3 and Erie Morn's fireteam all while the Hunter listened and absorbed the information to the best of his ability, only interrupting to ask questions on things he didn't understand. The story finished just as the sun started to rise with the death of Crota. "Well that concludes things to the most recent major event. Now that I talk about these events out loud, it's really is quiet impressive what we've been able to accomplish against such impossible odds." finished the Ghost.

"It really is." the Hunter said, still processing all the information he was given. Glancing out the window at the sky from his position on the floor he noticed that the cloudless sky brightening. Standing up and putting on his helmet and scarf, he walked over to the hole in the wall and stood there watching the edge sun slowly come over the horizon. His Ghost hovered next to him watching the sunrise as well.

"Looks like a fine day to start our story." The Ghost silently float to next to him. The duo fell back into a comfortable silence before the Ghost broke it.

"How about we start with a name since you can't remember your own." the Ghost said looking at his Guardian. The Hunter went silent as he thought of a name for himself. Sure, he could easily choose any name in the any human language but as he went over each of them in his head, none of them sounded right to him. However, a word, not name, kept repeating itself in his mental list. Focusing on that word, he said it to himself mentally and it sounded and felt right to him.

"Echo." the Hunter said.

"I'm sorry?" the Ghost said confused.

Looking at the Ghost, the Hunter said it once more with confidence. "Echo. Until I remember what my original name is, my name is Echo, seeing as echoes are the only thing I can remember of my past."

"That's... creative. Haven't met a Guardian with that name before. Anyways, it's a pleasure to meet you, Echo." the Ghost said hovering at face to face height with his Guardian.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Ghost. Let's figure out how to get ourselves to the Tower."

**A/N**

**Well there you go, Chapter 2 of Hunted to Hunter. I've honestly been working on this for a while. I actually started planning a month or so after Taken King came out but Fall of Jericho has had my priority as well as school and life. However, like Fall of Jericho, I do intend to update this as often as I can, which I hope can be sooner rather than later. Anyways, thanks for reading my story. Hope you guys liked it. Comment and/or review, all feedback is welcome. Have a great day.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**

**Hello everyone. To start off, I just want to thank anyone and everyone who has read this story. It really means a lot to me people are not only reading this but also enjoying it. I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize for the long periods of wait time between each chapter. I was working on this chapter awhile ago but when I went to save it, I was logged out and I lost all my progress. Due to that, I lost the momentum I had while writing and I couldn't recall what I had written.**

**Disclaimer: Destiny is owned by Bungie and its respective developers. All I own is the plot of the story and the characters.**

**Now on to the story.**

_Old New York, Manhattan_

After abandoning his sniping position and walking through what was left of the streets of the city for the past hour, Echo arrived at the edge of a park that had long overgrown it's boundaries and spread into the surrounding buildings. As he continued along the street, his foot bumped into something metal on the floor. Blending over and the picking up the piece of scrap metal, he flipped it over to see that it wasn't entirely and the words and numbers were still eligible. The piece of metal had the title '14th St' on it.

"Union Square." Echo muttered to himself still examining the sign.

"What was that, Guardian?" asked his Ghost, who was floating next to him examining the sign as well.

"Huh? Oh, we're on 14th St. That park right there is Union Square." Said Echo putting down the sign and turning to the park. "That metal structure in front of the park over there, there, and there were entrances to the old subway lines that ran underneath the city." Echo pointed to the metal structure and several stairwells around nearby.

"How do you know all of that? Guardians haven't been surveyed the city but according to what few records we have on the city, you're completely correct."

"I don't know. It just all seems so familiar to me." The two said silent for a few moments as they surveyed the area until Echo broke the silence. "We should keep moving. We need to get you back to the Last City."

"You sure you don't want to look around?" asked the Ghost.

"Yeah, we can always come back here at anytime after we get back."

"Alright, any ideas on where to start looking for a way back?"

"Ghost, I don't even know where the Last City is. You tell me." replied the Hunter.

"Right. Well we'll need air transportation." Said the Ghost before it started mumbling a list of other things they need. However, his train of thought was interrupted by the sound of gunfire echoing the quiet streets. "What was that?"

"Sounded like gunfire. Coming from over that way." said Echo pointing south. "Come on, let's go check it out." The Ghost nodded before dematerializing. With that Echo took off running toward the direction of the gunfire. After taking few minutes of running and few turns, the Hunter came upon another park that, like the previous one, had long overgrown it's boundaries. On the floor, under so leaves and dirt, was another sign that read _'Washington Square Park.'_ The park was much larger then the previous one with more open space and more broken walkways. In the middle of the park was what looked like the remains of an old fountain. In it was the source of the gunfire.

"Echo, heads up, those are other Guardians pinned down over there." Announced his Ghost. Using the scope on his sniper rifle, he zoomed in on the other Guardians and saw one that much bulkier then the others, one with a torn up cloak, and one that was in what looked liked robes. They were firing off into the side where Echo couldn't see but were quickly driven back into cover by a large hail of arc weapon fire from what he assumed was a squad or two of Fallen troops. "Guardian, take some cover, we have another squad of Fallen coming up from behind us."

Echo quickly dove into one of the broken windows next to him. As he ducked behind cover, his radar picked up the Fallen squad and they passed him without stopping.

"Echo, we have to help them. They may be able to help us get to the Tower." his Ghost said as Echo watched the Fallen squad move toward a good position to fire upon the Guardian fireteam from.

"Agreed. Ghost, find me a way upstairs. I need to be able to see the battlefield before I go charging in." Echo said as he held out his hand and his Ghost materialized hovering over his palm. Scanning the area in a few burst, the Ghost once again dematerialized as he finished and directed his Guardian.

"Alright, the door behind you and to your right will take to a hallway and the end of the hall to your left is a staircase that will lead you upstairs. Part of the wall was blown out so you'll be a exposed but you'll be able to see the firefight from up there. Better hurry." Echo nodded and sprung into action. Quickly making his way through the door and down the hall, Echo got to the staircase only to find that the stairs have been destroyed. Before he could say anything, his Ghost spoke up.

"Remember what I told you about as we were leaving the building earlier?" asked the Ghost.

"The thing about double jumping? Yeah I remember." said Echo, catching on to what the Ghost was asking and backed up to the wall the get a running start.

"Now's as good as a time as any to see if you understood." With that Echo sprinted toward the destroyed steps. Using a piece of rubble to gain a little more height, Echo jumped into the air and just he reach the arch of his jump, he jumped again, further propelling him into the air and onto the platform above.

"Nicely done. Now get to that breach, those Guardians won't be able to hold out much longer." the Ghost said and Echo nodded, opening the door and entering a ruined room. The hole in wall a sizeable one, one he could easily fit through. Sliding over to hole, he observed the firefight. While he was inside, things have certainly taken a turn for the worse for the Guardians. Now being flanked by the Fallen squad that passed him, the Guardians barely had a chance to fire back at either direction to stop the Fallen's advance.

"What's the plan?"

"Over there, see those Vandals with the sniper rifles? We need to get rid of them first. They're the ones that are giving those Guardians the most trouble. How many sniper rifle were we able to scavenge."

"Two. How many snipers are there?"

"Two." Echo said attaching his Hand Cannon to his thigh and took the sniper rifle off his back. A magazine with the last two rounds materialized in his hand and he inserted it into the rifle.

"There you go. Try not to miss." said his Ghost.

"I won't." Echo said as he lined up the shot and squeezed the trigger sending an arc round into the first Vandal's head. The second Vandal quickly turned to it's decapitated partner and screeched as Echo lined up the next shot and steadied his breathing. By the time the Vandal had begun to try leveling it's Wire Rifle, the second sniper round had already left the rifle barrel. Within the next second, the Vandal's head exploded and its soul quickly left its body. As the last Vandal Sniper fell dead, Echo walked out of the hole and fell to the street below, his shields absorbing the impact of the fall. Once he landed, Echo took off running toward the group of Fallen flanking the Guardian fireteam. Getting close enough without them noticing him, he took cover behind the a fallen tree and took his hand cannon out and check to see it was loaded. While his HUD showed him that the firearm was loaded, it was force of habit that he check it himself, not that he remembered how or when the habit formed. Taking aim at the closest Fallen, a Dreg, the first shot impacted the Dregs in side causing it to stagger while the second shot took off its head. As he shifted his aim to the others, the Fallen did the same. As the most of the Fallen Squad began opening fire at him, two of them, a Vandal and Dreg rushed him with melee weapons. With his attention on the Fallen shooting back at him, Echo didn't notice the two rushing him. Just as he dropped another Dreg, his Ghost called out.

"Echo, on your right!" Heeding the warning, Echo quickly turned right only to jump back to dodge a slash by the Dreg. Firing the last two shots into the Dreg, Echo realized he had jumped out of his cover and was quickly taking fire. In the few seconds he was out of cover, the hail of arc bolts brought down the Guardian's shield, the last bolt breaking through the shield and impacting his chestplate, winding the Hunter. As he sat behind cover trying to regain his breath, Echo's radar ping another hostile closing in. Turning around, Echo watch the as a Vandal jumped at him with Shock Swords in hand. Muttering a curse under his breath, Echo blocked the downward strike of both swords with his Hand Cannon, the blades of the swords biting deep into the firearm. Shifting the direction of the swords' movement as it hit the Hand Cannon to the right, the Vandal successfully forced the Hand Cannon from the Guardian's hand. However, it's moment of triumph was short lived as Echo dropped the Hand Cannon in his right hand, he drew his knife with his left hand in an icepick grip and plunges it into the Vandal's neck. Take a moment to catch his breath behind cover, he watched his shield bar slowly refill. Once it was full, Echo peeked over the cover to see that only three enemies remained, two Dregs and a Vandal with the Dregs a few paces ahead of the Vandal. Weighting his options, Echo mentally prepared himself to charge the Fallen.

"I know what you're planning and it's crazy." said his Ghost suddenly.

"Thanks, I haven't noticed." Echo said sarcastically. "Got a suggestion?"

"Two actually. First, I was able to create a grenade for you. When you want to use it, it'll materialize on you, just like the rest of your equipment. Second, when you get out there, try to lose yourself in the blade trance." That was all the Ghost said. Echo reached over to his belt and found the grenade his Ghost was talking about. Taking the explosive off his belt, he primed the grenade and chucked it at the Fallen. As the grenade landed, Echo vaulted over the cover and ran toward the Fallen. With the glow of the grenade getting brighter, the Fallen dove out of the way to avoid the explosion of arc energy. As the Fallen we're getting to their feet, Echo had already closed the gap between them. The closest Dreg to the Hunter tried to take a slash at him with its Shock Dagger only to have it deflected to the side by the Guardian's knife. The Hunter then grabbed the Dreg's Shock Pistol with his left hand and slashed its wrist with the knife in the other hand causing the Dreg to let go of the energy weapon. Quickly turning, Echo threw the Shock Pistol at the other Dreg as it was trying to line up a shot hitting the Dreg in the head. As he went to stab the Dreg he disarmed, the Dreg jumped back to dodge the knife, saving its life for the moment. With the Dreg out of the way, the Vandal was able to get a clear shot on the Guardian and fired off a burst at the Hunter which was absorbed by his shield and dropping it to half. Before Echo could do anything against the Vandal, the Dregs both engaged him in close quarters with their Shock Daggers. Unable to get an effective strike in, Echo resorted to dodging and blocking while getting in minor strikes and small cuts on the two Dregs. Quickly, Echo developed an easy pattern of block, dodge, strike, dodge again and repeat, with slight variations.

As he continued this pattern, Echo fell into an almost trancelike state. As he drifted deeper into the trance, the Hunter felt his body tingling as his Light transformed into arc energy. The arc energy wash over him in a flash of blue and the Dregs backed up, unsure of what was happening. Once the flash was gone, Echo stood there with his knife ready to strike and with sparks of arc energy coming off of his armor and glowing blue. His knife was also radiating with arc energy and had the same glow as its wielder. As Echo lunged forward toward the first Dreg, his movements became a blur and moved at velocity unseen before by the Fallen of this area. The arc imbued knife cut through the Dreg's armor as if it wasn't there and discharged a large amount of the energy into the Dreg. The Dreg's corpse never hit the floor as the overload of arc energy began disintegrating the Dreg's body as soon as the knife made contact with its body. The second Dreg, upon seeing what happened to its brethren, screeched at the Hunter and was trying to level its Shock Pistol but never got the chance as the Hunter lunged forward once more and slashed the Dreg across the chest, resulting in the same disintegration as before. The Vandal, who had watch the Guardian decimate what was left of the group in less than three seconds, was backing away and shooting. Echo noticed that his shield was depleted in the last volley and knew he couldn't reach the Vandal and survive to attack it in close quarter. Hearing his Ghost suggest something, Echo nodded and moved to accomplish it. Running forward and sliding under the next volley of arc energy shots, Echo focused arc energy into the knife and vertically slashed the air from the bottom up, discharging the energy knife during the swing. The discharge of energy over the ground caused a wave of energy to travel across the floor toward the Vandal quickly. All the Vandal could do was screech curses at the Hunter as it knew it couldn't avoid the wave until the wave hit it and it, like its brethren before it, was disintegrated.

As the last remnants of the Vandal disappeared, Echo felt left the surge of arc energy leaving his body. As the last of energy dissipated, Echo body felt heavy and sore, his breathing became more labored, and his vision blurred. Echo was about to call out his Ghost, when a voice from behind him caught his attention first.

"Impressive." Echo quickly spun around to the see the source of the sound with his knife raised. The source of the sound was the Guardian in the cloak he had seen pinned down earlier. Getting a closer look at the Guardian, he immediately noticed, even with his vision blurring and correcting itself, the Guardian was not only smaller then him in height but in build. Noticing the curves on the Guardian that made him realize that the Guardian was a female. The Guardian spoke up again in hopes of getting a response from her fellow Hunter.

"So are you just gonna stand there and check me out all day or are you gonna say something?" she said jokingly. Echo just looked at her and was about to say something when the his vision began blurring once and he lost feeling in his legs and collapsed on to his back. The last things he saw and heard as everything was fading to black was the other Hunter was rushing over to him and kneeling next to him with both his and her Ghost hovering over him and his Ghost scanning him for what's wrong and the female Hunter remove her helmet and saying something along the lines of 'Stay with me.' and call over the rest of her team. As she looked back at him with a worried glance, the last bits of Echo consciousness left him and everything faded to black.

**A/N**

**Hope you guys like this chapter, I know it's been awhile since I last updated. Every time I was working on this story, I would hit save and it would make sign back in and I would lose all my progress. It really sucked because then I would lose that momentum I had while writing and I would have to come back to work on it another day.**

**Once again, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I enjoyed writing it and if you didn't, well to each there own. Any feedback you guys have is welcome, even the bad kind. Thanks for reading, especially those who have been patiently waiting for updates. Comment and/or review if you want and as always, Have a great day. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**

**Hello everybody. First off, wanted to start off by saying once again thank you for reading my story. You have no idea how much this means to me. When I started writing I never expected such a positive response to it. **

**Disclaimer: Destiny is own by Bungie and its respective developers. I only own the characters and the plot of this story.**

**Now on to the story.**

_Guardian temporary camp, Old New York, Manhattan_

After the engagement with the Fallen squads, the three Guardians decided to assess their situation and set camp in one of the old buildings. Separating into two groups, two to check out and clear out the building and one to keep an eye on the unconscious Hunter. The Hunter of the group opted to stay with the other Hunter, explaining that her gear at the moment was set up for medium to long distance engagements and weren't the best in close quarters. The Warlock and the Titan just nodded and set off for the tallest building left standing around the park.

The female Hunter sat next to the unconscious Echo and sighed as she thought back to the that previous engagement.

_'We got lucky this time. If it hadn't been for him, we would have died and had we been any slower, he would have died.'_ she thought to herself, casing a glance at Echo. She noticed his Ghost hovering around examining him worryingly. After Echo had collapsed, they realized the extent of his injuries were worse than what his Ghost had previously expected. His armor was burned, dented, and had holes in them from where Fallen arc energy shots that punched through. While his armor was in the process of repairing what damage it could, his body was having a harder time healing itself. Even with Light simulating his healing, his body was too badly damaged for his Light to heal it alone. Had he not been in the middle of Arc Blade, he would have surely perished and had she not been there when he emerged from the blade trance, he would have bled out.

"Any change in his condition?" she asked the Ghost.

"No. Thankfully, his body is healing but he's not showing signs of waking up yet. Hopefully he'll wake up soon but he'll be in quite a bit of pain." the Ghost said, dematerializing Echo's helmet off of him. Looking at Echo, she noted that he was roughly around the same age as her, not that she remembers how old she is and she assumed neither did he but they looked around the same age. Her attention was drawn back to his Ghost as it spoke up again.

"I'd hate to lose my Guardian after just meeting him."

"How long have you two been traveling together?" she asked

"A little under a day." The Ghost said floating over to her. "May I ask something?"

"Shoot."

"While we're both glad to have made contact with other Guardians, why are you and your fireteam here? To my knowledge, New York, or at least the island of Manhattan, is to be avoided at all cost by order of both the Vanguard and the Speaker due to the high concentration of Fallen in the city and only send veteran strike teams to deal with issues at the New York crater."

"Well you see... the Tower sent us to start placing beacons and establishing sparrow uplinks for when they do start sending Guardians over." the Huntress said with some hesitation.

"Really? I haven't detected any beacons the entire time I was here nor a sparrow uplink station." the Ghost said suspiciously.

"We just landed." the Hunters said with some doubt in her voice.

"Right. Well I'm going to contact the Tower and check. Once my Guardian wakes up, I'd recommend his inclusion on the mission. While he doesn't seem to remember much, he seems to be quite familiar with the city and it's layout." the Ghost said, expanding its shell. Before the Hunter could object, another female voice responded first.

"I can't watch this anymore. We aren't suppose to be here. The Warlock on our team has been driving herself up the walls wanting to be the first to find some Golden Age cache of tech and equipment and the Titan is here for the "security reason" and we were brought along, even though we initially objected to the idea, because the idea of being able to find new gear and equipment that hasn't been seen before by the Tower was too tempting." answered her Ghost, who had materialized next to her. "And you, Thalia, need to work on your lying." Echo's Ghost returned its shell to its normal place around its eye as Thalia's Ghost turn toward it. "And you. I know you weren't actually going to contact the Tower because you're not suppose to be here either. We've lost more than a handful of Ghost in this area, some of which had Guardians. The fact that you made it this far is surprising enough."

"True enough. I was curious to know and that was the only way you would tell me anything." the Ghost defended itself. Before any of them could say anything, another voice was heard.

"Ghost, play nice. I don't know what you did but play nice." They all turn to see Echo attempt to sit up with a groan. "Okay, bad idea. Everything hurts." Echo laid back down.

"Oh, you're awake. I didn't expect you to wake up so soon. You might not want to move to much. You took a pretty bad beating back there." Echo's Ghost said to him.

"Thanks, I noticed. I was there." Echo replied and attempted to get up again, this time with more success than the last.

"Are you always so sarcastic?" asked Thalia, making her presence known to the other Hunter. However, his reply was cut off by her Ghost.

"You're one to talk. A good portion of the thing that come out of your mouth is sarcasm." Her Ghost said floating in front of its Guardian.

"Yeah well the same can be said with you." The female Guardian began to argue back but once again Echo interrupted the conversation.

"I'm sorry for interrupting but who are you? And I don't know. I haven't exactly been able to have many social interaction here. The Fallen seem more interested in shooting me then sitting down for a moment to chat." said Echo trying to reinsert himself into the conversation.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." Thalia muttered to herself before turning her attention back to her fellow Hunter. "The name's Thalia. I was the one you saw before you passed out. Thanks for the help you gave us back there. My team and I would have been wiped out if it wasn't for you. It's good to see you're still alive. Who are you?"

"Echo and you're welcome." replied Echo trying to find a comfortable position to sit in that didn't hurt before giving up and settling in one that hurt the least.

"Echo? You're name is Echo? How'd you come up that?" asked Thalia, curious by the unusual name.

"Yeah but that's a story for another time. For now we should probably get moving. I'm not comfortable sitting out in the open like this." Echo said looking around to see if there are any nearby threats he should be worried about.

"Yeah, I agree but we're waiting for the rest of my team to give us the all clear that they secured a location to make the camp. From there we can decide what to do." Thalia said with a sigh. Echo just hummed a response. The Hunter's sat in a growing silence as their Ghost hovered around and chatted with each other and traded information. As Thalia began sharpening one of her knives when she heard a Echo groan. Looking over, she saw Echo attempting to stand. His Ghost quickly floated over to him and began scolding him, telling him he hasn't healed enough to attempt to stand. Echo just ignored his Ghost and continued his attempt until he was on both feet and leaning on the fallen tree he had once used as cover.

"Are you alright?" his Ghost asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Echo waved off his Ghost as it began scanning him. The Ghost ignored him and continued scanning. When it finished, it spoke up again.

"Well take it easy. You manage to reopen an injury but it'll close up in a few moments so let's not push our luck. I'd hate to have to find a new Guardian." Echo chuckled at this before pushing himself fully onto his own two feet. Once he steadied himself, Echo spotted something out of the corner of his eye and walked over to it to the best of his ability all while Thalia watched curiously from her spot on a tree stump. While it visibly caused him some pain, Echo bent over and pick up something up off the ground. While Thalia couldn't get a good look of the object from where she was sitting, she could tell it was made of metal and whatever it was, it was broken beyond repair. Seeing Echo's Ghost floated near the him, she could hear them talking about the object. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Thalia walked over to see what they were talking about.

"What are you guys talking about?" Thalia asked as she walked over. Her Ghost hovered over next to her.

"Hm?" Echo looked over at the other Hunter as she approached. "Oh we were just talking about if it was possible to salvage anything from this." Echo said as he held out the object in his hand. Thalia got a closer look at it and realized that it was Hand Cannon, or what was left of one. The metal was torn with one of the tears biting deep, making it's way into the ammo cylinder and destroying the mechanisms inside for reloading the weapon. while the other cut nearly removed the barrel of the Hand Cannon.

"What the hell did you do?" Thalia was surprised by the destruction caused to the firearm.

"He decided it was a good idea to use it as a melee weapon and blocked a shock sword with it." Echo's Ghost said then looking at it's Guardian.

"Two swords actually." Echo muttered loud enough to be heard. Thalia looked at him, shocked at what she heard. Echo noticed her stare. "What?! It was either the Hand Cannon or my face and I have yet to see my face." Echo said as she just looked at him with blank stare before she started laughing.

"Well you made the right choice. Guns can be replaced, but it'll be a shame if we lost such an handsome face before the world got a chance to see it." Thalia said before walking away while chuckling to herself, her Ghost silently following. Echo just stood there confused on whether or not she was teasing him. After half a minute of standing there with a confused look on his face, Echo finally let it go before the turning back to his Ghost.

"That was weird." Said Echo looking at his Ghost. "So back to my question, is there anything we salvage from this?" The Ghost scanned the remains of the Hand Cannon before making his verdict.

"There are a few weapon parts that we could salvage. The firing pin is still intact as well as a few other parts." The Ghost answered as he removed the surviving weapon parts from the weapon.

"Cool. So how are we doing on ammo?"

"Not good. We have ammo for a Hand Cannon but no Hand Cannon to go with it and we're fresh out of sniper rounds but I'm sure if you ask the others they'll happily share some ammo with you. Or if you prefer, you can run at the Fallen with your knife again. Just don't expect the same arc energy overcharge to happen again. It'll be awhile before we're able to do that again. I have to collect Light from the surrounding area and New York City is one giant Darkness Zone. Same concept for me to be able to revive you, by the way. I need Light and considering we just used the all the Light I had collected when you activated Arc Blade, I wouldn't advise you go off and get yourself killed."

"Right. Guess I'll go ask Thalia if she has any spare ammo or spare weapons that aren't knives." Echo let the Hand Cannon disappear from his hand and looked over at the other Hunter. Thalia was sitting on the tree stump once again sharpening a knife, occasionally looking at her Ghost to say something. What they were talking about he wasn't quite sure, only able to pick up bits and pieces of the conversation, not that he cared in all honesty. As he watched her, he took note that her messy black hair reached almost half way down her neck. Echo couldn't shake the feeling that the scene had some kind of familiarity to it, although he had a feeling it didn't any weapons.

"You know you have to walk over there and talk to her if you want to ask for something." his Ghost said cutting into his train of thought. "Unless you have telepathic abilities. Wait, do you have telepathic abilities?" Echo looked the Ghost.

"No, I don't."

"That's unfortunate."

"I'm going now." Echo said as he began to walk toward the other Hunter as the Ghost dematerialized. When he finally got close enough, he spoke up. "Hey, Thalia. Mind if I ask you something?"

"What's up, Echo?" Thalia looked up from her knife at him.

"I was going over my weapon situation when I realized that I don't have a usable weapon with the exception of my knife. My Hand Cannon is a beyond repair and my sniper rifle is out of ammo. I was wondering if you had a spare weapon I could use or at least some ammo so I'm not running at anymore Fallen with only a knife or swing my sniper rifle like a club." Echo explained.

"Yeah, I was just talking about that with my Ghost. I think I can help you out with that. Ghost." In her hand, materialized a sidearm, which she held out to him. "Here, I never used this sidearm and I've had it for awhile so I don't mind giving this to you." In her other hand, materialized a handful of magazines that go with the sidearm. "May you make better use of it then I have." Echo carefully took the sidearm and the ammo that goes with it. Examining the sidearm, it seemed to be a fairly standard weapon with no modifications done to it. It was black and as he held it, it gave him an odd sense of déjà vu. Pulling the slide back, a round ejected from the weapon and Echo caught it in the air before releasing the magazine and putting it back in the magazine. Putting the magazine onto his belt like the others before his Ghost dematerialized them, Echo once again pulled the slide to make sure there was no stray bullet in the chamber and checked to make sure the safety was engaged. Once he satisfied with his weapon check, Echo slipped his finger into the trigger well and in one smooth motion, spun the pistol on his finger for a few rotations both forward and backwards before grabbing the handle and sliding it onto his thigh where it magnetically attached itself to him. Thalia once again just watches her fellow Hunter with growing curiosity. Echo looks up at Thalia and smiles.

"Thank you. I'll be sure to put it to good use."

"Hey, don't thank me. It's better you have weapon. Sorry that's all I have to give you. I spend a majority of my ammo fighting all the way up here from the river east of here."

"It's fine. This is more then enough. Also, you guys landed all down at the East River?" Echo asked. While he doesn't understand why or how, Echo was able to remember a great deal about city and navigating its streets. Even if the streets had changed due to debris, he still knew the general location of certain things and location of some of the more famous places.

"The what?"

"The river you're referring to is called the East River. Goes all the way up the east side of the island and separates Manhattan from Brooklyn and Queens." Thalia just looked at him with a blank stare, having no clue about what he was talking about. Her Ghost, on the other hand, understood some of what was being said. "Oh never mind."

"Remarkable. When your Ghost mentioned you had knowledge on the city, I thought he was lying to call us out on our bluff but it truly seems that you have some knowledge of the city layout. We have to get you back to the Tower to talk to the Vanguard." Her Ghost marveled at the thought of all the new data they'd be able to uncover now. It was interrupted from its thought as it picked up a transmission. "Oh, transmission from Hecate. Patching you in." The Ghost materialized her helmet in her hand and Thalia quickly put the helmet on.

"Thalia, we made it to the top of the building. The building is secure so I'd suggest you'd grab the Hunter and make your way over here. Oh and if you get a transmission from Atlas saying to leave the Hunter, just ignore him."

"Copy that and the Hunter actually woke up while you guys were gone. I think you'll enjoy talking to him. He apparently knows things about the city and its layout."

"Oh good. I can't wait to talk to him then. Hurry up and get up here before the Fallen come back."

"Got it. Thalia out." The transmission closed and Thalia looked at Echo to see him with his helmet on and his scarf around his neck. The scarf was a bit torn up and the helmet had a dent in it. "Remind me to check if I have any spare armor to give you and cloaks to give you when we regroup with the others." Thalia looked at his armor and noticed that it still hadn't repaired itself and has seemed to have stopped trying. 'Come on, Echo. Time for you to meet the rest of the team." With that, the two Hunters made their way to the building the rest of Thalia's team had secure.

**A/N**

**Alright, that's a wrap. Now I have a question for anyone willing to answer.**

**How many people noticed the all the references I include in any of my stories? There are quite a few, whether it would be direct lines from the games themselves or another game, a show, books, or even mythology. I'm curious to know if anyone took noticed them. I'll have ask this on my other story as well.**

**Anyways, thanks for giving my story a read. Like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Let me know Comment/Review if you want. Thanks again for giving this a read and especially thank you to the people who are waiting patiently for each chapter. Have a great day.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**

**Hey everybody. Just wanted to thank everyone who has read the story up to this point and answer a review from a guest since I couldn't PM them a response.**

**Guest: Is Thalia and Hecate a reference to Heroes of Olympus?**

**Response: Not exactly. More like Greek Mythology in general. I love Greek mythology and it provides great inspiration in so many forms. In this case, I'm borrowing names from Greek Mythology of gods, goddesses, or heroes that have similar abilities to that of Guardians in story and the Greeks aren't the only ones I'm borrowing names from. At some point we'll see names from Egyptian, Norse, or even Celtic Mythology. Anyways thanks for reading and the review and good job on picking that up on that reference. I love the Percy Jackson series. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Destiny. Destiny belongs to Bungie and its respective developers. **

**Now onto the story.**

_Old New York, Manhattan_

The two Hunters moved as quickly as Echo's injuries would allow him. Even with Light stimulating the healing process, the injuries were still taking awhile to heal. Lucky, the building wasn't too far. Unfortunately, there were a lot of stairs they had to climb. As they approached the edge of the park, the sound of the screeching echoed from the other side of the spark. Taking that as their cue to pick up the pace, pushed himself to move quicker, much to both Thalia's and his Ghost's displeasure. Once inside the building, Echo held out his hand and his Ghost materialized above his palm. Sending out a couple of pulses to scan the building.

"Stairs are over there. And Echo, take your time. You're pushing yourself too much." His Ghost scolding.

"I'm incline to agree with your Ghost. We don't want to have to patch you up again if you start bleeding out, mainly because I don't have any bandaging left. Never carried much to begin with." Thalia said. "We'll move at your pace, okay?" Echo nodded and they once again moved at the fast pace Echo could go due to him not wanting to slow them down too much. After about 5 minutes, the two reached the top floor. Figuring out the room the other Guardians were holding up in, in they entered the room and saw that the bulkier one leaning against the wall and the one who's armor looked like robes was sitting against the wall reading a book. Both looked up at stared at the Hunters as they walked in.

"Oh good. You're here." The Guardian put away her book.

"And you brought a friend." The Guardian leaning against the wall said before pushing off the wall and walking toward the center of the room. "Here I was hoping you would leave him." Echo could feel the bulkier Guardian glaring at him from behind his visor.

"Right. Anyways, its good you brought him. I was hoping to talk to him." the robed Guardian said before walking up to Echo. "My name is Hecate. I'm a Warlock. The grumpy one over there is Atlas. He's a Titan." Echo started chuckling to himself. "Is something funny?"

"Sorry, not necessary funny, more like amusing. All of your names reference Ancient Greek mythology. Hecate is the Greek Goddess of Magic and Witchcraft, Atlas is the Titan of endurance, astronomy, strength, and bearer of the sky, and Thalia was one of the three Graces." Echo stopped laughing and thought for a moment. "Why do I know that?" This time it was Hecate's turn to laugh.

"Well you are just full of pleasant surprises. What's your name, Hunter?"

"Echo. A pleasure to meet you." Echo held his hand which Hecate shook.

"Well Echo, I'm glad you are here. Thalia told me your familiar with the layout of the city. Tell me, how long have you been in city?"

"Less than a day." This response was something that Hecate wasn't expecting. Questioning the Hunter's information, she decided to test his knowledge.

"Alright. So do you know where we are?"

Yeah. We're in Washington Square Park. From what Thalia told me, you guys landed near the East River and fought your way up past avenues D,C,B, and A as well as First, Second, and Third Ave on the way up. I came from Union Square, which is North from here." Echo said quickly, clearly, and with the up most confidence. "So did I pass the test?"

"How did you know I was testing you?" Hecate asked

"I may have been revived yesterday but I'm not stupid. Like I said, I've been in the city for less than a day. You want to verify if my information is legit or not. Don't believe me, ask the Ghosts. If they studied the maps that are at the Tower, they should be able to confirm my information, to whatever extent that the maps there prove." Echo answered. Hecate looked at her Ghost, which seem to be in thought. After a few moments, the Ghost looked up.

"The Hunter's information is correct. We saw a few street signs that told us the street names as well as the maps having some of the streets named." Hecate's Ghost said. Hecate nodded and looked back at Echo, who had taken his helmet off and ran his hand through his hair. He caught the Warlock's gaze and gave a small smile.

"Alright so now we figure out our next move. Thalia, Atlas, what do you guys think?" Hecate asked her two teammates. Thalia was talking to her and Echo's Ghost.

"I say we keep pushing forward. We're still fairly close to our landing area and we have yet to find anything worth while." Atlas said. Echo took this opportunity to back away let the fireteam discuss their next move. Moving over to a wall that had a wall with, like many others that Echo had come across, had a few holes in them. Deciding to test his luck, Echo sat on the floor and leaned against the wall.

"And push on to what? We've spent most of our ammo fighting our way here and we haven't exactly found any good clearings for our Jumpships to make a drop off." Thalia argues back. "My vote is make our way back to the landing zone and head back to the Tower with Echo." Hecate stayed silent as the other two continued to argued. Noticing the other Hunter sitting against the wall listening with a wondering look on his face, she figured that they might as well hear what their resident local has to say and get his opinion on the matter at hand.

"Echo, what do you think?" Hecate asked, cutting off the argument. The Hunter and Titan looked at the Warlock before turning to the other Hunter in the room. Echo looked at them a bit surprised, not expecting to be involved in the conversation. "As the only one with any kind of knowledge on the city, I want to hear what you have to say."

"Oh, okay. So before I say anything, I need to ask a few things."

"Alright then, ask away."

"First question, why don't we just head to the rooftop and extract from there? This building is tall enough that your ships should be able to swing by and pick you." The question was answered by Thalia.

"The East River wasn't exactly our first choice in landing spots. There's a massive park in the center of the island that we were going to originally use as a landing area but the Fallen seem to have some serious firepower that threaten to blow us out of the sky if we tried to make a landing approach."

"Alright AA batteries scattered around the city. So I assume that river was the only location you could come in low enough with out being knocked out of the sky?" Echo said in thought. His Ghost seemed to watch him as he spoke, intrigued by what he was saying.

"Yup. Only way to fly under the radar was to use the river."

"Got it. Alright second question; why did you push up this fall? While my memory is still is a bit fuzzy in certain areas of the city, I remember this area very well for some reason. Not much up this way. If you wanted to find a good location for Golden Age technology, you should have stayed by the river. There's an old power plant there. I'm pretty sure it would provide power for a good portion of the island."

"Yeah, we heard about the power plant. A few Guardians that have been saw the place but few have investigated it. We thought about it checking it out but we figured there was more to find if we pushed on." Hecate said.

"Well like I said, not much over here. I'm inclined to agree with Thalia. I say we pull back to your LZ and call in an extraction." Echo said.

"One problem." Atlas spook up. "Our Jumpships only have one seat. Four people, three ships. Not everyone is coming back."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, we have our next course of action. Pack it up people and get ready to move out."

Echo was about to sit back down when Thalia called for him as she step out of the room. "Hey Echo, come here for a minute." The other guardians looked at the doorway she walked out of then looked at Echo. Echo just avoided everyone's gaze and followed the other Hunter.

"What's up?" Echo said as he stepped out the room.

"I wanted to give you a few more things. I saw that your armor isn't holding up too well and if we getting into another fight like the last one, you're going to get killed, which we can't have. So I'm going to give you some better armor but you're going to have get out of your current armor." Thalia explained.

"Okay but how do you know the armor will fit me? We're not exactly the same size or height." Echo asked.

"Don't worry, when our Ghost equip us with new armor pieces, the armor is adjusted to fit us perfectly. The armor guardians wear are unisex. They just require adjustment which is why I need you out of your armor so my Ghost can scan you." Thalia once again explained. Echo wasn't sure of how much he like this plan but complied with the request and parts of his armor began dematerializing, starting with his helmet then his chest armor. When Thalia realized what he was doing, she stopped him and turned away before the best piece could go away. "What are you doing?! Not here, go into the other room or the stairwell." Echo just looked at her with some confusion before walking over to an empty room. "Ghost, go with him." Thalia's Ghost appeared next to her and floated into the room. Echo closed the door behind him and left Thalia alone with her thoughts. Inside the room, Echo's Ghost materialized next to Thalia's Ghost and watched as the rest of disappeared and left him in whatever tight body suit was underneath the armor.

"So why did your Guardian freak out?" Echo's Ghost asked.

"You're guess is as good as mine. She's weird. She probably thought he was going to strip completely." The female voiced Ghost said with what sounded like a sigh.

"Fair enough but couldn't you have just transferred the armor data to me instead. This seems a little excessive."

"While I'm incline to agree, transferring data is easy but when that data is meant to materialized into a solid object, especially armor, it doesn't seem to work very well."

"You could just create it and leave it on the floor and let me take it. From there, I can materialize it with the proper adjustments." Echo's Ghost suggested as Thalia's Ghost scanned Echo.

"I could but let's be honest, this is more fun. Its not everyday I get to see my Guardian react like that." Soon the new armor began materializing on Echo. "There you go. Say hello to your new armor. It's an Iron Companion armor set from one of the times Lord Saladin was holding the event at the Tower. Thalia liked the competition and ended up with two sets which she had the one you're wearing shaded black and different shades of grey and the other was gold, with some white and grey. As for a cloak, here." A cloak appeared in Echo's hands. It was dark grey almost black with the edges coloured gold. "The Clock of the Reefrunners, I believe. Thalia won that in a bet so she doesn't mind giving it up. Just don't tell anyone you got it from us." Echo just laughed and put on the cloak. "Well there you go. How does it feel?"

As Echo moved his limbs to get a feel for his new armor, his Ghost spoke up as he observed the armor. "You just had to give him more knives." The Ghost said with what sounded like a sigh which got a chuckle out of the other Ghost and the Guardian.

"Look at the bright side, Ghost, running at the Fallen will be more interesting." Echo said at a joke.

"Don't do that." Echo just laughed as turning his attention to the other Ghost.

"Thank you. The armor feels great." Echo smiled as he felt the comfortable weight of his sidearm appear on his right thigh.

"Don't thank me. It was Thalia's idea to give you some of the armor she doesn't use, which is understandable because your armor was in pretty bad shape. Now I have to return to my Guardian. Mind opening the door for me?"

"Sure." Echo walked over and opened the door and the Ghost floated out. Outside in the hall, he could see Thalia leaning against the wall, spinning her knife in her hand. Seeing the door open, she put away the knife and turned her attention to her Ghost and the other Hunter. As the Ghost flew over to her, Echo stay at the door way, talking to his Ghost.

"Well come on out. Let's see how you look." Thalia said. Echo stepped out from the room and Thalia walked over to him and walked around him, examining him. Pleased with what she saw, she slapped Echo on the rear, causing the male Hunter to jump. "Looking good." As Thalia walked in front of Echo, Hecate walked out into the hall.

"Hey Thalia, we're all set to... go. Did I miss something?" Hecate asked looking at the two Hunters. "Who is that? Is that Echo?"

"Hi."

"Okay then." Hecate decided to ignore the sudden change in armor. "Thalia, we're all set here. You ready to go?"

"Yup, all good on my end."

"Alright, good."

"Hey, Hecate, we're going to start heading back to your landing site, right?" Echo asked.

"Yeah, why you ask?"

"Mind if I scout ahead?"

"Sure I guess. Just stay safe out there. We need you alive. If it becomes too dangerous pull back to us."

"Got it. Just patch me in to your comms and send me the coordinates for your landing site and I'll find you guys the safest route." Echo said. Hecate nodded and her Ghost connected him to their fireteam's comms then sent Echo's Ghost the location of the landing area. "Coordinates received. Come on, Ghost. We're Oscar Mike." Echo began to move toward the stairs but stopped when Hecate spoke again.

"Just stay safe out there. If you die, this whole incursion into New York is for nothing and the Vanguard will have our head." Hecate said.

"Don't worry about me. I know what I'm doing." Echo said as his Ghost dematerialized. "Rangers lead the way ma'am."

"I don't even know what that means. Go on before I change my mind." Hecate said waving him off and Thalia just chuckled. Echo nodded as he jumped over the railing of the stairs. Using his extra jump, Echo propelled himself upward and grabbed onto the railing for one of the floors. Pulling himself over, he entered he ran through the broken down door and through the hall into the one of the room that had a hole blown through the wall that lead outside. Leaping from the building, Echo double jumped to the next building and kept running and jumping until he reached the rooftop of a building across the streets.

Back inside the building, Hecate's fireteam gathered up their gear and like civilized people, walked down the stair, although Thalia was tempted to try out what Echo had done. Hecate ordered against it. They had left a supply stash in the room they were in for the next time they were in the city. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, a nav point appeared on their HUDs and on their maps. Hecate's Ghost notified her of a message and read it out.

_"My Ghost is picking up a lot of Fallen comm chatter. It seems they're dedicating more troops to hunting and killing Guardians in New York. Avoid direct engagement. If you have to engage, do so silently. Knives, melee, or suppressed weapons only. I'll do my best to provide overwatch, intel, and directions when need be. Recommend radio silence as well but ultimately your call. Good luck, ma'am. Echo out."_

**A/N**

**That's a wrap. I hope you guys enjoyed the story as much as I enjoy writing them. I'm gonna be honest, my writing any type of logical flow or plan outline, most of it is spur of the moment and what sounds good. Thanks to everyone for reading this story and if you've been reading since the beginning when I first began this story, thank you especially. **

**Anyways, what did you think of this chapter? No action in this chapter, more of exposition in this one. I'll fix that in the next chapter. Tell me what you guys think. Comment, Review, or PM if that's more your style.**

**Thanks again and have a great day. **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**

**Hey everybody. I just wanted to start off by thanking everyone. I've gotten so many reviews and follows and favorites and it just blew me away with how many people were enjoying the story and want me to continue. It just made my day. I'll do my best to keep up with your expectations and I have read all of the reviews and taken all suggestions into consideration. Now I'm going to have to take this time to talk about something that was brought to my attention by a review and that was**** the Fallen were a race that was visited by the Traveler before the Traveler left them as the Darkness approached. Thanks for catching that.**

**Thanks again to everyone who review. It really makes my day to see you guys enjoying this as much as I enjoy writing it. Now onto the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: Destiny doesn't belong to me. It belong to Bungie and its respective developers. The only thing I own are the plot of the story and some of the characters.**

**Now onto the story**

_Manhattan, Old New York_

Following the waypoint markers Echo uploaded to them as he moved, Hecate and her team, designated Fireteam Mystic, quietly moved about the derelict streets of New York City. Ducking inside a building, the team waited until a Fallen patrol passed down the street and the next marker appeared. Hecate had decided to take Echo's advice on radio silence for the time being. The next marker appeared down the street in a building down the street, opposite from direction the Fallen patrol was walking. Advancing in a single file with Thalia in the lead, the Guardians at the corner and checked both way to make sure it was clear. Finding the path clear, Thalia ran across the street first, making sure it was safe, followed by Atlas, then Hecate covering the rear. Once they were all over, they entered the building to find the marker had moved upstairs. As they approached the stairs, the sound of thuds from upstairs caught their attention. Slowly proceeding up the stair, a Vandal had dropped over the railing and tumbled down the stairs dead, startling the Guardians and causing them to almost break the silence with a yell and gunfire.

"I swear I'm going to kill him if he does that again." Atlas grunted in frustration.

When they reached the top of the stairs, the caught a glimpse of Echo pulling himself on to the roof with two more dead Fallen on floor, one with it's throat slit and the other with its head at an unnatural angle. Tempted to follow the Hunter, Hecate decided against it as the navigation marker pointed them to a hole in the wall that lead to the next building. With the group back on the move, they arrived at the edge of Union Square after a few minutes of sneaking. Moving back down to street level, the objective marker lead them to a subway entrance around the corner that was guarded by the two Vandals.

"I say we take them." Atlas said. All the sneaking around had made him itching for a fight.

"No, its not worth breaking concealment for two Vandals." Hecate said she peeked around the corner. "I'm sure there's a better way to handle this without drawing attention."

"Wait, does anyone hear that?" Thalia asked. The fireteam took a moment to listen and they heard thumping and mechanical parts hissing and creaking from the other side of Union Square. "What is that?"

"I don't know but I don't like it. We need to move." Hecate said taking a peek around the corner once again to see the Fallen still standing there. "Echo, do you copy? We're cut off from your nav marker. We got two guards and no cover in between us and them. Any ideas?"

"I copy. Also I'm seeing a this weird vehicle on the far side of the park. Has six legs, really big cannon on top, almost looks like an insect. My Ghost is calling it a Spider Walker. Can you confirm?"

"Yeah. That sounds like it. We can use your help with the two Vandals blocking the stairwell."

"Copy that. Give me a moment to reposition." The radio line fell silent once again. Hecate turned to the rest of her team. "Echo's Ghost just confirmed it. We got a Spider Walker on the far side of the park." Even with their helmets on, Hecate could tell that the other two Guardians weren't pleased by this news. Taking another look at the two Vandals, she tried finding a way to deal with them. Before she could finish formulating the thought, her attention was drawn to the sound of something banging of the rusted hull of a car. Glancing back at the Vandals, both of them were on high alert and trying to find out on the source of the sound. The two exchanged some chatter and one of them walked over to investigate the noise. As the other one turned around and began walking away, Hecate noticed movement above the Vandal that hadn't moved. Suddenly, Echo dropped down from above onto the Vandal, plunging his knife into the Vandal's neck. As the other Vandal turned around, Echo was already on his feet and was closing the gap. Before the Vandal could level his rifle, Echo blinked forward, closing the gap between them and stabbing his knife into the Vandal's throat. Withdrawing the knife from the corpse and sheathing it, Echo picked up the body and carried it to the subway stairs where he unceremoniously threw it down the stairs before dragging the other corpse to the stairs and did the same. "Path clear. Moving forward." Hecate turned to the others and signaled them to move. Heading down the stairs, they stepped over the two corpses and entered the darkened underground. Their Ghosts materialized over their shoulders and provided light. After walking forward in the unsettling quiet of the underground passageways, they came to where the nav beacon had lead them. It looked like a small checkpoint or office built into the wall. Part of the wall had faded blue paint on it with a faint image of a shield with the letters 'NYPD' in it. Walking through the broken down door, they caught a glimpse of a light in the other room and soon enough Echo emerged carrying a few rolled up papers or posters.

"What's that?" Hecate asked lowering her weapon.

"Maps of the island. I wanted to check out the side of the park but that tank is going to be a problem."

"What's on the other side of the park?"

"A book store, if I remember correctly." This caught Hecate's attention. Hecate had always loved reading, even in the previous life. While most books would have most likely been destroyed or ruined, the chance that some of them surviving was something worth checking out. "Anyway, we're going to take the tunnels from here to get closer to the LZ."

"Tunnels?" Atlas asked, tensing at this. He wasn't fond of tunnels, especially of things that tended to live in the tunnels nowadays.

"Yeah. Subway tunnels. They were built long before humanity encountered the Traveler. Hopefully they're still structurally sound. They should bring us all the way down to First Avenue." Echo said.

"Hopefully?"

"Well, yeah. I don't know when the last time they were inspected so some of the tunnels could have been damaged by nature or the Fallen."

"Are you sure you know the tunnels well enough for this?"

"Of course not but the tunnel we're using is a straight line up until after First Avenue so we should be fine."

"Should be?"

"Just keep an eye on your radar. It's dark down here and you'll live longer if you do. Also don't touch the third rail. I saw that scribbled on one of the walls so down here and I have a feeling that its sound advice." The rest of the Guardians were starting to prefer the traveling above ground over the tunnels. "Shall we?" With that, papers he was carrying disappeared and Echo grabbed his sidearm from his thigh. Following the Hunter, the group saw rusted signs dangling over head directing them to other subway platforms. Going down a few flights of stairs, they soon arrived at the platform they were looking for.

"The 'L' train?" Thalia asked quickly reading on of the signs.

"Yup. Either side will do." Echo said walking down the platform until something caught his eye. Looking over the case, Echo looked for a way to open it without damaging the contents of it as the other guardians continued walking down the platform.

"Whatcha looking at?" Thalia asked walking up next to him.

"That." Echo pointed to the paper on the other side of the airtight casing. "Its an old subway map. In surprisingly good condition too. Ghost, can you scan it? We can really use it."

"Ghost, you should do the same. It'll be good to have two copies of the map." The two Ghost floated in front of the map and scanned it. Once done, the map dematerialized.

"We'll bring the map with us, just in case." Echo's Ghost said. Echo just nodded and looked over around for the other two members of the fireteam, spotting them at the one end of the platform. Looking at his radar and figuring out which way was east, he called over the rest of the fireteam.

"This way." The Warlock and the titan doubled back to the two hunters and followed him to the end of the platform before jumping down on to the tracks. "Mind the third rail." Echo muttered to himself. The walk way quiet as they quickly reached the Third Avenue station.

"I'm amazed that these tunnels are still standing. How far do these tunnels go?" Hecate asked.

"According to a map we found, these tunnels go all the way into Brooklyn on the other side of the river. New York has an extensive subway system that go through all boroughs."

"You found a map?" Hecate asked with some glee in her voice.

"He did. We both took scans of it and his Ghost has the actual map." Thalia said. "Want a copy of the scans I took?"

"Of course." Soon enough, a small image of the map appeared on the side of Hecate's HUD. "Thank you." Hecate said cheerfully. Atlas, on the other hand, just kept a tight grip on his shotgun and kept glancing at his radar. His efforts were soon rewarded as a his radar picked up something. The others seem to have noticed as well as they stopped.

"Ghost, kill the lights." Echo said. His Ghost shut off the light and disappeared quickly followed by the other Ghosts doing the same, plunging the Guardians into darkness. Taking cover at the edge of the platform, the Guardians watched as the ping they each received on their radars got closer until it stopped almost right on top of them. At this range, they could hear the crackling of the electricity on the blades of the weapon and Echo held his arm up in front of the person behind him as a way to signal. Thalia, the person behind Echo, was ready to make a move but Echo kept his arm up. After what felt like an eternity, the Vandal walked off and headed back toward the stairs. Thalia and the rest of the fireteam was about to move but Echo stopped them. "Wait." He whispered over the comms. The other Guardians looked at each other before listening and settling back down. The group grew restless as Echo crouched there without moving and without a sound, as he listened to everything. After a few minute had passed, Echo tapped the person behind him and started moving. The rest of the Guardians, now with sore joints from staying crouched that long without moving, followed with slight annoyance. As they left the station and entered the tunnel, Thalia broke the silence.

"So do you mind telling us what that was all about? The radar was clear. We could have left any time after that Vandal had left."

"Better to safe than sorry. I wasn't sure if the Vandal had actually left so its safer to have waited awhile to make sure it had passed."

"More like a waste of time." He heard someone grumble. While it annoyed him to hear that, Echo held his tongue to avoid saying anything and only picked up the pace. His radio beep in his ear and his Ghost's voice came through.

"How are you holding up?" Echo didn't respond. "You know they can't hear you right now. I cut the connection with them for now and made sure no one can hear you if you talk, even if they're right next to you." His Ghost explained.

"I'm just a bit frustrated. Besides sneaking around and trying to keep us all alive, I can't help but think about who I was before all of this." Echo confessed. His Ghost was quiet for a moment before speaking up.

"I might be able to help you with that. I've been analyzing you ever since I resurrected you. Based on the way you handle yourself, both in and out of combat, its likely that were a soldier before you died." His Ghost said. The news shocked Echo. Could he have actually been a soldier? What was he doing before he died? Did he die fighting or running? What kind of a soldier was he? Hell, what kind of a person was he? These thoughts and questions began plaguing his mind as he continued walking. "I'll let you think things over." His Ghost said before going quiet.

"Thanks and thank you, Ghost. You've at least given me something new to think about." Echo said. Echo went silent after that. He heard a barely audible click as his radio was turned back on and tuned back into the fireteam's channel.

"Echo, are you okay?" He heard Hecate say. "You suddenly went quiet."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just had to talk to my Ghost. We're coming up on the station now. Get ready." Echo said gripping his sidearm. "Ghost, kill the lights." Once again the three Guardians were plunged into darkness. Keeping an eye on their radar, they slowly approached the station. Checking the platform, they quickly moved up the stairs next to them. Once up the stairs they were greeted by dented metal fence and broken down turnstiles. On the other side of the fence, sunlight could be seen shining down two flights of stairs to their left. Hopping the turnstiles, they made their way over to the stairs, one on the left and one their right. "Everyone ready?" Echo asked. He wasmet with nods. "Good. I'll take point. Atlas, Hecate, you take mid, Thalia, you have the rear." Getting nods of confirmation, Echo ascended the stairs into the empty streets. With Fireteam Mystic behind him, Echo lead them down the street, only slowing down as he came across the ruins of an old church. There was a metal gate that lead to a hallway next to the church but the gate had been blown off its hinges. As they walked by, he could see the hall way had caved in over the years. Continuing down the street, they came across another gate that been destroyed that lead to the small parking area with a few rusted cars and a courtyard. The building at the end of the courtyard laid in ruin as well. The exterior wall had collapsed into the courtyard and the faded signs of fighting could be seen against the brick walls. Echo had no idea why but he was saddened by the destruction of the old buildings. He felt as though they held some significance to him in his previous life but could figure out what it was. Maybe he was religious? Maybe use to go here with his family? He didn't know and he doubted he'd remember anytime soon. Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, he pressed forward with the Guardians in tow.

The walk to the landing zone was a quick and quiet one, something Echo was grateful for. The landing zone was on a small beach barely 30 feet across and at least 6 feet below the sidewalk but the fence that once restricted access to the small beach was gone, striped for scrap by the Fallen and other scavengers that use to reside in the old ruins of the city. On the beach, a sail boat had washed up on the shore and was being used by the fireteam to store equipment and supplies.

"How long do we have to wait here?" Echo asked.

"Our Ghosts brought our ships back up to orbit and they're currently over Asia so I'd say 10 to 15 minutes." Hecate answered.

"Then that gives us time to discuss our biggest problem." Atlas said. "We don't have enough ships to get all of us back to Tower. Someone has to stay behind." No one said anything. They were hoping to avoid talking about it and hoped the problem would somehow get resolved on its own.

"We could send a message to the Tower and asked to send a Hawk to pick us up." Thalia suggested.

"And get our asses chewed up by the Vanguard for going into one of the biggest Darkness Zones on the planet? No thanks." Atlas said.

"So what do you suggest?" Thalia asked taking a step toward Atlas.

"You already know what I'm going to suggest." Atlas said taking step forward, rising up to the challenge. It was no secret that Atlas didn't exactly take a shine to Echo when they first found the young Hunter and blamed him for getting in the way of their mission and making them fall back.

"We are not leaving him behind." Thalia hissed. "If you wanted to stay and fight, then by all mean, stay and let Echo take your ship back to the Tower. I'm sure he'd be much more useful than you've been."

"ENOUGH!" Hecate yelled. "I'm sick of you two constantly arguing. No one is leaving anyone behind."

"Actually," Echo spoke up, "I think Atlas is right. Your best option is to leave me behind. I was the unknown factor that appeared out of nowhere. Its not fair if one of you is forced to stay behind because I just randomly showed up yesterday."

"No, we are not leaving you." Thalia said, marching toward Echo. "We need you. You are way too important. You have information and documents that could help us retake this city." She waited for a reply for a few moment when suddenly documents showed up on her HUD as well as physical copies of the documents and data engrams. "W-what are you doing? Why are you giving these to me?"

"There, you have all the documents I recovered earlier today and yesterday." Echo said. "Now I can't hold you back from leaving. You can report to the Vanguard now and show your findings and asked them to send a ship to pick me up." Echo said with a smile. He didn't mind all that much about being left behind. In all honesty, we was going to suggest leaving him behind when he found out that they didn't have enough space to bring him back but Atlas beat him to the punch. Out of the four of them, he had the best chance of surviving since he was familiar with the territory and use that to his advantage if he would go up against the local Fallen houses. Also, he doubted he would have to wait long for extraction. If the Vanguard believe them and saw the potential advantage to having a Guardian with his knowledge, a ship would be scrambled to collect him immediately. Thalia, on the other hand, didn't like the option in the slightest. She knew that he didn't have the experience to survive in the wilds of the urban jungle. Her team barely survived incursion into the city but a newly revived Hunter with nothing but a handful of knives, a sniper rifle, and some ammo for a weapon that was brutally destroyed. However, whatever retort Thalia had was quickly silenced as an explosion erupted on the edge above the beach followed by screeching and lots of it. The first one to react was Echo, who quickly jumped up on top of rock to look over the edge and cursed at what he saw. "Heads up people, we got inbound." Echo shouted as he shouldered his freshly reloaded sniper rifle and fired off a shot.

"What are we up against?" Hecate asked checking the magazine counter on her Pulse Rifle before getting up on rock and started putting rounds down range. Atlas was the next to follow, using his lift to get back onto the sidewalk and taking cover behind his one of the many old jersey barriers, firing short controlled bursts from his Auto Rifle. Thalia quickly took Hecate's position, who had moved forward on the sidewalk and took cover behind a different barrier, and began taking potshots at the advancing Fallen with her Scout Rifle.

"I got eyes on about 25 Fallen infantry moving our way. Mostly Dregs, handful of Vandals," Echo fired a shot, "One less Captain, and a Spider Walker trying to get a lock on us." Suddenly, movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention as he looked up to see a couple of hovering drones float down from a rooftop and start firing at them.

"We got Shanks coming down from on top of the buildings on the left!" Thalia shouted as another cannon shot flew over her head and close enough to Echo that the heat from it drained his shield a bit before it crashed into river behind them. However, the new Hunter didn't flinch and just fired off another round. Hecate and Atlas shifted their fire and began dealing with the new threat as the two Hunters dealt with the slowly advancing Fallen infantry.

"Protect the LZ. We can't let them overrun us." Echo said, firing off another round. "Son of a-" Echo swore as he ducked under a tank round "Does anyone got any AT rounds or rockets for that tank? The ships can't land with that thing still up."

"Yeah but I need you to cripple it first." Atlas shouted as he threw a Lightning Grenade onto the wall behind the Shanks, the resulting the lightning arcs destroying any Shanks unfortunate enough to come across it. "Hecate, get ready to drop a bomb on that thing in case my rocket doesn't take it out."

"Got it." Hecate shouted as she let another burst loose from her Pulse Rifle. "Echo, focus on the legs."

"Copy." Echo said as he adjusted his aim. "Thalia, think you can keep the Fallen back without my help for a bit." Thalia fired off a round that took the head off a Dreg.

"You were helping? I didn't notice." Thalia replied playfully as she dropped another Dreg with a headshot. Echo just chuckled and fired away at the leg of the Spider Walker.

After the fifth sniper shot, the armor around the leg exploded off and the Spider Walker went down collapse as the front hatch open to prevent to core from overheating.

"Core exposed. Watch the back blast!" Atlas yelled as he shouldered his launcher. Taking a moment for the targeting computer to get a lock on the temporarily crippled tank, Atlas fired the rocket at an angle. As the rocket flew through the air, it corrected its course and slammed into the Spider Walker, heavily damaging it but not destroying it. "Shit, its still operational. Hecate, you're up." Atlas shouted as he crouched down on one knee to reload.

"Got it. Atlas, get ready. I'm going to need a boost. Thalia, Echo, keep them off of me while I do this." Hecate said as she started running toward Atlas. Atlas braced himself as he felt Hecate jump up and step on his shoulder before launching herself off and gliding upward to the highest point she could get to. Once there, she channeled void light into her right hand before releasing it forward. The bolt of void energy soared directly into the Spider Walker just as it started to recover, destroying the already damaged core. Smaller explosions erupted through the Spider Walker as its systems overloaded until the tank itself exploded as its legs gave out, its main gun being blown off by the last explosion. Seeing the destruction of their artillery, the remaining Fallen, only a handful remained from the original attack force, took this as a sign to retreat and regroup.

"They're falling back. Regroup and rearm. Ghosts, you can bring in our ships." Hecate said. The rest of the fireteam acknowledged and gathered on the beached boat. "Anyone injured?"

"No, we're good. Burned through my ammo though." Echo said as he manually filled individual magazines of ammo for his sniper rifle, an action very few Guardians did nowadays as their Ghosts could do it almost instantaneously. Ignoring the unusual action, Hecate turned her attention to her team, both of them letting her know that they're fine. Soon enough, the sound of engines came into their view and a look outside showed three jump ships slowed the as they approached the beach.

"Looks like you're ride's here." Echo said as he filled another magazine. "Better get out of here before the Fallen come back." Atlas didn't have to be told twice and walked out with a nod. Hecate hesitated to leave but also left with a worried glance over her shoulder.

"Are you sure about this?" Thalia asked. "I don't want to leave you behind. None of us do."

"Yeah. I'm sure. Don't worry too much about me. I'll be fine." Echo said. "Just don't forget about me when you get back to Tower."

"We won't. I promise, we'll get you back to Tower." However, before they could continue, another explosion went off.

"Fuck!" Echo said as he grabbed his sniper rifle and slammed a fresh magazine home.

"Thalia, get back to your ship now. Fallen are back and they brought another walker." Hecate's voice came over the comms.

"Are you joking?! Another one?! Where did they hide that thing and why were they waiting until now to use it?!" Echo yelled. "Thalia, get back to your ship. I'll hold them off."

"But-"

"This is not up for debate. Now go!"

"Fine!" Thalia said with a sigh before throwing him her scout rifle. "You better not die." Thalia ran out of the old boat and straight to her. Once her Ghost transmatted her into her ship, she quickly followed Hecate's and Atlas's ship up to orbit while dodging anti-air fire. Echo, on the other hand, ran straight into the fight, his Ghost grabbing ammo for the newly acquired scout rifle. Dropping back behind his cover to reload, Echo watched Thalia's ship fly get out of range of the Fallen gun and sighed. Now all he had to do is survive. Seeing a flash on his radar close to him, he popped back out of his cover and grabbed the Dreg that had gotten too close by the arm and pulled it over the cover and slammed it into the floor before stabbing it in the head. As Echo began to fire back at the advancing Fallen, his cover was blown to bit by the Spider Walker from a shot that got hit close to the cover and was sent flying back to the beach. With a cough and a groan, Echo forced himself to get up and grab his weapon, his ears still ringing. Staggering to his feet, he did his best to shake off the explosion as he continue to fire at the advancing Fallen. As the Spider Walker was trying to line up another shot, a missile slammed into the side of the walker, destroying it and taking a few Fallen with it. Before he could turn to find where the missile came from, Echo felt himself be dematerialized and rematerialized inside of what looked like a cockpit. He watch the view from the cockpit turn toward the sky and launch forward with puffs of flak erupting around the ship until it was out of range. Once out of range, he got a quick glance of the view from the ship as the ship made way to orbit. Getting his mind out of the clouds, he felt whatever he was sitting on shift.

"Enjoying the view?" he heard a voice behind him. Turning around, he came to face to face with Thalia. That's when situation became obvious to him.

**A/N**

**And that's a wrap. Thank you so much for reading this story and being patient for an update. Its been awhile since I updated this story and felt it was time to correct that. You're gonna have to forgive me for the lack of content. I've been distracted and this isn't my only story and life now that school has ended and I'm not going to college yet, has been odd to say the least and I just got back from DC. Anyways, enough excuses for my lack of content, its been months.**

**What did you guy think? Like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Leave a comment/review or shoot me a PM if that's more your style.**

_**Edit: Sorry for this but as I was reading through this chapter myself, I found a few things that bothered me, mainly the fact that I kept calling the 'Spider Walker' a 'Spider Tank'. Not the biggest problem in the world but it bugged me way too much to let it go by unchanged. As well as a spelling mistake or two, that's all I changed.**_

**Thanks again for reading and have a great day.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**

**Hey everybody. Thanks so much for reading this story and those who reviewed, I especially thank you because if it wasn't you guys, I won't have the motivation to continue this story. I do apologize for the long wait periods between each chapter. I have a hard time finding time to work on all of my stories and brush up on the lore of each story. Anyways, enough about that, disclaimer time.**

**Disclaimer: Destiny belongs to Bungie and its respective developers. All I own is the plot of this story and some of the characters. **

**Now on to the story.**

_Earth, Low Orbit, en route to the Last City _

"You came back?" Echo said quietly. "Thank you." Thalia, who had removed her helmet once she entered her ship, smiled at the Hunter.

"Of course I came back. I wasn't going to leave you back there to die." Thalia said. "Now you own me one." Echo chuckled at that as he removed his helmet.

"Yeah, I guess I do." Echo looked back and smiled at the other Hunter. The two sat in silence for a few moments until Echo broke it "So question."

"Shoot."

"What compelled you fly through all that flak for me? Most other people would have kept flying."

"Well I'm not most other people." Thalia said jokingly before getting serious again. "In truth, it because I don't want to lose another Guardian, especially if I can do something about it." Thalia looked over and could see the confusion on his face. "Mystic isn't the first fireteam I was a part of. My first fireteam was called Fireteam Defiance. It was made up of two Hunters and a Titan. The titan's name was Enyo and the other Hunter, our leader, was Oasis, named after the place he was revived in." Thalia smiled at the memory of her old fireteam.

"What happened to them?"

"We were given a recon mission by Dead Orbit to recon the Hive on the moon for any signs of the Hive retaliating for killing their Crota and his generals. Dead Orbit wanted to know if there was any impending danger that could destroy the City so they could evacuate themselves and their followers."

"What did you find?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Flashback, Temple of Crota, 4 months ago_

_The air filled with screeching as what seemed to be an endless hoard of Thralls charged at the Guardians. Hovering behind them all was a Deathsinger they have never seen before. Despite their best effort, the fireteam was pushed back, deeper into the temple._

_"Ghost, close that door." Oasis yelled as dropped to one knee and kept firing with his Auto Rifle. "Shit, reloading. Cover me."_

_"They just keep coming." Thalia shouted as she blew the head off another Thrall._

_"Good, let 'em come." Enyo said. Both of them could feel the smile on her face through her helmet._

_"Cool it, Enyo. We need to get out of here." Oasis ordered. "Ghost, can you find us an alternate path out of here?"_

_"Scanning." His Ghost materialized into existence and sent out a handful of pulses. "Alright, I got an alternate route but if we try to use it all at once, the Hive can easily cut us off and trap us here until they can blow the doors open and overrun us."_

_"What does that mean?" Thalia asked._

_"It means one or two of us has to stay behind and distract them while the rest escape." Oasis said with a sigh. "You two better get going. I'll hold them off. Ghost, you too. We can't afford to lose anymore Ghost." His Ghost seemed to hesitant to leave him but ultimately followed his orders._

_"I understand. Oasis, its been an honor. Thank you for being my Guardian." With that the Ghost floated over to the door and began unlocking._

_"Goodbye, Ghost."_

_"What?! No! Ghost, get back here. There has to be another way." Thalia said._

_"Thals, there's no time to come up with another plan. The Hive are right outside that door and we have, give or take, 5 minutes before they blow through that door and kill all three of us."_

_"I'll stay. I can hold them off longer than you can." Enyo said. "I got a Fist of Havoc and loaded shotgun just waiting for them to burst through that door. Let them come through. I can take them all on." Her smile had only seemed to have grown._

_"Enyo, please, listen to orders." Oasis pleaded. "I'm responsible for your safety, both of you." Oasis ordered. As he said that the door, a dent was made by the Hive as they tried to break in followed by a massive roar. Whatever was out there was big and pissed off and put a collective feeling in all of them, fear. "We're out of time." Oasis looked back at Enyo and saw the fear had registered in her mind as a second dent was created. _

_"Well I'm not leaving." Thalia said defiantly, despite her fear and every part of her body telling her to run._

_"Thalia, this is not up for debate. This is a direct order." A third dent was created then a fourth. Oasis knew they didn't have time to argue. Oasis looked at Enyo and she gave him a nod. If there was one thing that made Enyo forget her love of fighting, it was Thalia in danger. From the first time they met, Enyo had always treated Thalia like a sister and did her best to look out for her. Knowing Thalia, she won't leave unless forced to. Both Enyo and Oasis knew how stubborn the girls was and they both knew what had to be done. "Enyo, get her to safety." Oasis ordered and with that, the Titan picked up the young Hunter and bolted for the door that Oasis's Ghost had opened._

_"Enyo, let me go. We have to fight and help him." Thalia struggled against the grip of the Titan but her grip stayed firm. Reaching out one last time to Oasis, the doors closed behind them._

_As the door closed behind the two Guardians and Ghost, the other exploded open as a massive fist crashed through. The sound of Oasis's activating his Golden Gun quickly followed by his war cry. The muffled sounds of battle echoed through the corridors as Oasis's Ghost lead the way out until the faint sound of a song began to echo before the sound of gunfire overcame it and soon after that, silence._

_"He's light is gone. His body was just obliterated by that Deathsinger." Oasis's Ghost said. "May his light find rest." Thalia went quiet and limp, losing all the fight she had in her at the news. Enyo stayed quiet and kept running, adamant to carry out the last orders of their fallen leader. The death of their leader and friend both affected them greatly. They had no idea how long Enyo ran but they eventually arrived on the surface. Enyo put Thalia down on a rock and crouched in front of her._

_"How are you holding up?" Enyo asked gently._

_"He's gone, Enyo. He's really gone." Thalia still couldn't believe it. They've all died countless times before and were revived soon after word but this time, he was gone permanently._

_"I know, Thals, I know." Enyo said enveloping the Huntress in a hug. "I can't believe it either. But we'll carry on for him, okay?" Thalia just nodded. The two stayed silent for a while until Thalia broke it. It was there that Thalia promised that she won't let that happen again if she could help it._

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx _

"I'm sorry to hear that." Echo said. He felt guilty for making her relive those memories after hearing what happened.

"It's fine. I've come to terms with what happened. Oasis knew what he had to be the one to stay. Out of the three of us, his light burn the brightest and the Hive were the most focused on him because of it." She smiled at the thought of the man. "He was one of the best Guardians I've ever seen. He fought at the Battle of Twilight Gap and was there when we failed to retake the moon. Never thought much about of himself or his own safety. He was always worried about everyone else." She looked at the young Hunter on her lap. She could also see her old team leader in him. "You remind me a lot of him. I think you would have liked him." Echo smiled at this when a thought came to mind.

"Hey, Thalia, what happened to Enyo? You said she got you out but you didn't mention what happen to her afterwards. I'm kinda surprised to see that you two aren't on the same fireteam. Did she quit or something?" Thalia laughed at the thought of Enyo retiring from being a Guardian.

"No, she won't let herself. She loved fighting too much. She actually assigned to a strike team on Venus not long ago. After the lost of Oasis, we were both taken off the field for a while and assigned to guard the Last City, me on the walls as a lookout and her patrolling the streets. When were cleared for duty, she was assigned to a strike team in that operates in Venus while I was assigned to Mystic. When were both at the Tower, she makes it a point to spend time with me and have some fun with her, usually in the Crucible. I'll introduce you next I see her." Echo chuckled and agree. With that, the two fell into a comfortable silence.

After about 5 minutes of silence, the sound of ship's comms came broke the silence.

"Thalia, we're coming up on the Tower. Make sure you have authorization code ready. I don't want a repeat of last time." Hecate's voice came over the comms.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Thalia sighed. "Never gonna let me live that one down, are you?"

"Not likely, no."

"Over and out." Thalia shut off the comms with a sigh. Echo looked at her with a sly smile. "Not a word from you." She said as she sent her authorization codes.

"This is Tower Air Control to incoming jumpship, authorization codes accepted. Welcome back, Guardian." a voice came over Thalia's comms.

"Thank you, Control, its good to be back." Thalia replied as she shut off the comms again. "Hey Echo, take a look outside." She said pointing out of the cockpit. Looking out, the jumpship broke through the cloud cover around the mountains and the Last City could be seen in full view. Echo sat up in awe to get a better look at it. Around the city were large walls and in the center of it all was the Traveler. He couldn't help but be amazed. Thalia just watched and couldn't help but smile. As Thalia started to come in for their pass on the Tower to transmat out, she noticed Echo's armor change back to his old heavily damaged armor that he was wearing when he first met them. "Uhh, what are you doing?"

"Well if I'm going to at the Tower for the first time, no one is gonna believe me if I'm wearing armor that only veteran crucible members have."

"I guess." Thalia said. "Just get ready to land. Our Ghosts will transmat us onto the courtyard on top of the Tower once we get close enough."

"Got it." Echo said putting on his helmet. "Oh, and Thalia, you're not allowed to use this as an excuse to tell people you got a free lap dance from me." He said gesturing to their current seating arrangement.

"Dammit." Thalia cursed as her plans on saying exactly that to her friends were ruined. "Fine." As she finished, she felt her body start to transmat to the Tower.

As the pair transmatted on the Tower, Echo was the first appear with Thalia following close behind. Echo stumbled when he first landed but quickly regained his balance. Thalia, once again, got to enjoy the sight of Echo look around with an open mouth and awe written all over his face. The courtyard was filled with Guardians of all different races and classes moving around. A line was formed near a booth at the right side of the courtyard where Guardians were awaiting to talk to an Awoken man in robes. A small cluster of Guardians was gathered near the building to his left. More Guardians were entering and exiting a corridor to his far right, the words 'Hanger' painted on the wall caught Echo attention for a brief moment before it was covered up by the sea of Guardians. Other Guardians seems to just be handing around talking to each other or their Ghost. However his attention was quickly grabbed by a shout.

"E-Echo?! What are you doing here?!" Hecate said. Echo looked around to see that her shouting had drawn the attention of other Guardians who had now turned their attention to him.

"Wait, Thalia didn't tell you?" Echo asked. The Guardians around them seemed to have quiet down and were listening and watching very intently. _'These Guardians really do like their drama.'_ Echo thought as Hecate turned her attention the Hunter of her fireteam.

"Thalia, what do you have to say about this?" This time the attention went to Thalia, who looked around and was ready to tell them what she happened when she caught Echo gaze and could feel his disapproving look through his helmet. However, before she could say anything else, the Tower's intercom caught everyone's attention.

"Fireteam Mystic, report to Vanguard immediately for debriefing." the voice said, sounding very displeased. Everyone looked at the fireteam, some with pity, some with sympathy, some even bowed their head in prayer which concerned the Echo greatly. The sea of Guardians almost seemed to part for the fireteam right to the stairs that lead to the Hall of the Vanguard.

"What's up with everyone?" Echo asked Thalia and Hecate as the two had visibly paled.

"Don't mind them. They're just being overly dramatic." Thalia said with a dismissing wave of her hand. "I'm sure its nothing bad. Come on, let's not keep them waiting."

"Oh okay. So who was that?" Echo asked.

"Commander Zavala, he's the Titan Vanguard." a new voice answered him. Echo looked over to see Atlas walking over to them only this time he didn't have a helmet on, revealing his light blue skin and periwinkle hair. "Seeing that you're here, I guess we won't have to worry about sending you a Hawk so that's one awkward conversation out of the way."

"Let's get this over with." Hecate sighed.

The fireteam plus one walked down the stairs and proceed to walk into a room where a rather large Titan stood by a desk, his helmet missing a horn.

"Ah, Thalia, Atlas, two of my finest participants, what brings you back to the Tower? Getting into trouble I hear?"

"Of course, Shaxx. Just got back from a mission and a not so sanctioned incursion into one of the biggest Darkness Zones on the planet. Now we have to report to the Vanguard." Thalia said, stopping to talk to him.

"I should have expected as much from you two. Well best not keep Zavala waiting, I can hear Zavala from here."

"Thanks, Shaxx."

"I expect to see you two in the Crucible before you leave for your next mission." Lord Shaxx said loudly to which Thalia and Atlas both gave him a thumbs up. Passing by the Crucible Quartermaster, they finally entered the Hall of the Vanguard. Their arrival didn't go unnoticed as Zavala's voice boomed from across the room.

"Fireteam Mystic, so kind of you to join us. I assume you know why I have called you here so abruptly?"

"Well I have a general idea." Thalia said.

"That was a rhetorical question, Guardian." Zavala snapped at her. "A simple retrieval mission. We sent your team on a simple retrieval mission and we get word that you decided to take detour and land in New York, an area restricted to most Guardians by order of the Vanguard. What do you have to say for yourselves?" He said sternly. Everyone went quiet, not wanting to say that they did it for the glory and possible loot. "Well we're waiting." Before anyone could speak up, Echo beat them to it.

"It's my fault, sir." Echo said. Everyone turned to the previously unknown Hunter. "They landed to answer my distress beacon."

"One of your scouts, Cayde?" the dark skinned woman next to them asked the Exo Hunter that stood at the middle of the table.

"Never seen 'em before, Ikora. His armor, or what's left of it, is armor new Hunter are given. What your name, Hunter?"

"Echo, sir, and you're correct, we've never had the pleasure of meeting before. In fact, this is my first time at Tower. I'm a new Guardian. I was resurrected less than two days ago." Echo said saluting perfectly. Cayde looked a bit uncomfortable with the action as he wasn't use to Hunters being formal. It was more of a thing he saw with Titans because of the way Zavala ran things over there.

"You don't need to salute and you can drop the sir, at least not to me. Hunters aren't very formal. Zavala might appreciate when you talk to him, though." Cayde said nodding toward Zavala. "Cayde-6, Hunter Vanguard, unfortunately." he said, mumbling the last part. However, it was still heard by everyone.

"You said that it was your fault that Mystic landed in New York. How so? We picked up no distress beacon here at the Tower." Ikora said looking at the new Hunter, who looked at her with a bit of confusion. "I'm Ikora Rey, the Warlock Vanguard." With the introduction, the confusion lifted from Echo.

"I was resurrected in New York and after my first contact with the Fallen, my Ghost spent the night filling me in on the situation and when morning came, we came up with a way to try to get to the Tower so we sent out a distress beacon."

"So why didn't we receive word of this distress beacon here at the Tower." the Awoken Titan at the end of the table asked. Without missing a beat, Zavala introduced himself "Zavala, Titan Vanguard." Echo's Ghost materialized next to its charge to answer the question.

"Well commander, we debated on sending it on an open frequency but we quickly scrapped that idea when we realized that the Fallen would pick up on it and make an effort to eliminate us so we decide to send it on a random encrypted frequency I knew Guardians used and hoped for the best." Ghost explained going along with the bluff. The answer seemed to satisfy Commander Zavala and Ikora while Cayde saw right through the bluff and chuckled to himself but said nothing about it and opted on changing the topic on the subject.

"So Echo, was it, mind explaining to me what happened to your armor?" Cayde asked gesturing to Echo's broken armor.

"Well after contacting Fireteam Mystic, we agreed to meet halfway but the Fallen managed to pinned them in Washington Square Park. I was able to make my way there and give them support. However in the battle, my armor was badly damaged and I was almost killed. Luckily, Thalia was able to patch me up and save my life. After that, we made our back to their landing site and extracted from there." Echo explained.

"Thank you, Echo. We will keep that in mind." Commander Zavala said. "Anything you would like to add, Hecate?"

"Yes, Commander. During our way back to our landing, we were able to secure several documents and maps that would might help our Guardian in New York. Also Echo knows the layout of the city." Hecate said as her and Thalia's Ghost materialized all the documents and maps on the table.

"Really?" Ikora asked surprised by the information. "It is rare for a Guardian to have knowledge of their past life."

"Unfortunately, that's not the case, ma'am. I only remember the general layout of the city and remember the city works on a grid system as well as a few landmarks. The only thing I remember from my past are some echoes and that I was probably a soldier before I died."

"Nevertheless, your information and insight with be invaluable." Ikora said. "However, now we must discuss your punishment. Even if you did it for good reason, you defied Vanguard order and failed to notify us of your new objective." Ikora said referring to Fireteam Mystic, who had stayed silent the entire time.

"Echo, you're getting off easy since your new and really had no say in the matter." Cayde said. "As for the rest of you..." Cayde turned toward Zavala to deliver the punishment.

"Your team is grounded for the next month. You will not be allowed to leave the City or participate in Crucible matches for the duration of this."

"What?! Oh, come on, isn't that bit unfair." Thalia said.

"Hey, you broke the rules. Next time, don't get caught." Cayde said, which resulted in a glare from Zavala. "What?"

"You will each be assigned something to do starting tomorrow."

"Tabi, do you mind showing our new Hunter here to the Guardian's quarters and have him set up in an empty room." Cayde asked one of the frames in the room that was sweeping.

"Of course." The automation stood up straight and walked toward Echo. "Follow me." The automation didn't wait for the Hunter's reply and immediately started walking. Echo turned toward the Vanguard and bowed slightly before following the Frame.

"Now we're even." Echo whispered into Thalia's ear as he passed her. Fireteam Mystic watched the new Hunter leave before turning back toward the Vanguard.

"How did you get him here? You only left with three jumpships." Ikora asked.

"We were wondering that ourselves. Thalia, mind filling us in?" Hecate asked looking at the Hunter in her team.

"He...rode with me." Thalia said trying to find a way to word it without making it sound bad. Looking around and seeing the confused looks, she sighed and began to explain what had. After a brief explanation of what happened, everyone was on the same page.

"So basically you're saying that he rode you." Atlas said chuckling. Cayde started to laugh but after a disapproving glance from both Zavala and Ikora, Cayde suppressed his laugh to the best of his ability. Thalia glared at the Titan and didn't give him a response before looking back at the Vanguard.

"You did good, Hunter. You saved the life of a fellow Guardian." Ikora said.

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Now for your assignments." Ikora said. "Hecate, you will be assigned to assist the Cryptarch in analyzing the documents and maps you're team and Echo recovered while in New York and find out which ones are useful for our Guardians on the field to know."

"Thalia, you're being assigned as a lookout on the walls for two shifts a day until you're need elsewhere." Cayde said.

"Atlas, you will be assigned to a security detail in the City as acting military police with a few other Guardians." Zavala ordered. "That's all we have you, Guardians. Now get some rest. You three deserve it." With that the Guardians all nodded and left.

"Well I don't know about you but I'm going to check on my new Hunter. The kid's got potential, bit too formal for my liking but a nice change of pace from most other Hunters."

"If only all Hunters were as respectful and formal as he is." Zavala said giving a half glare at Cayde-6.

"Where would the fun in that be if all of my Hunters acted like most of your Titans." Cayde said with the Exo equivalent of a smirk. "Beside, you'll finally be able to say that there's another Hunter that doesn't drive you up the walls."

"Remember the rules, Cayde. He's not allowed back into New York until he's at least a few years of experience and/or he's proven himself to be a capable Guardian." Ikora said as she began looking over the map brought by the fireteam that had just left.

"You just want to suck the fun out of it." Cayde mumbled. "Fine, I won't make use of probably our best asset for starting an offensive on the Fallen houses in New York."

"Keep us posted on your plans, Cayde." With Cayde left in search of the new Guardian.

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_Guardian Quarters, Tower, The Last City _

"Welcome to your new home, Guardian." the Frame said, gesturing to Echo new home. "Have a nice day." With that, the Frame walked away. Echo entered room to see exactly what he expected. It was simple place. Just a couple of room large. What surprised him was the fact that he actually had view of the Traveler as part of the opposite wall in the main room was replaced by a one way window that faced the Traveler. Walking into the bedroom, the same thing was done with the part of the wall there, giving him a view of the Traveler from two separate room.

"So this our new home, Ghost. What do you think?"

"I'm find with anything, honestly. I do like the view of the Traveler though." His Ghost said materializing and the floating to the window. Echo walked over to the window and looked out with his Ghost. As they stood there and looked out on the city, a few Ghosts floated past the window either heading up to the courtyard or down to the city below.

"Hey, Ghost."

"Yeah?"

"Do you know what you need?"

"Oh no."

"You need a name." His Ghost just sighed. "Any suggestions or preferences?"

"Well how about something irregular since you have an irregular name."

"Alright, I like it." Echo said crossing his arms to think. "How about..."

"Epsilon." His Ghost said.

"Epsilon." Echo played around with the name in his head. "Epsilon. I like it." Echo said.

"Huh, that's something." Echo heard the voice from the main room as the front door opened. Walking back into the main room, Echo was greeted with the sight of Cayde-6. "Didn't know any room had windows. Zavala is against them, saying they weaken the wall. Anyways, came here to check up on you. I see you're settling in just fine."

"Yes sir. Thank you."

"Please, call me Cayde. Sir makes me feel too much like Zavala. Also no need to be so formal, I maybe the Vanguard but I'd much prefer you treat me like another Guardian. Or better, take the position of Vanguard from me. Can't wait to get back out into the field." Echo chuckled at this.

"You got it, sir, I mean Cayde."

"There you go. Have you figured out what find of Hunter you are?" The two Hunters took a seat at the table.

"Yeah, I'm a Bladedancer." Echo said removing his helmet and placed it on the table.

"A bladedancer, huh. I'm one myself. Have you figure out what kind of abilities you have as a Bladedancer?"

"Not yet but I hope to find them out."

"Good, determination is a good thing to have as a Guardian." Cayde said leaning back in the chair. "You took a big risk lying to the Vanguard, you know." Echo's eyes widened. "Oh don't worry, they don't know and I don't intent on mentioning it. I mean, I do it all the time."

"What do you want?" Echo asked.

"Nothing, for now. In all seriousness, I wanted to talk to you." This caught Echo's attention. "Not many Guardians, even if the Guardians who have been around for years, would think about lying about to the Vanguard. Then again, they usually don't lie for the same reason you did today. I can respect that, sticking up for your friends."

"Thanks." Echo said leaning back. "By the way, what's suppose to happen to me?"

"Well after you've talked to the Speaker and spoken to the Shipwright about a ship, you'll either be assigned at a mission by the Vanguard or you can accept a mission from the bounty tracker or the Vanguard."

"Am I going to be assign to a fireteam?"

"No, fireteams are formed by Guardians themselves. The Vanguard only assigns solo Guardians to temporary fireteams for certain high value targets that a strike team can't respond to immediately. Other than that Guardians have the choice to be work as lone wolves. Do you have two Guardians in mind that you want to form a fireteam with?"

"No, I'm don't mind operating as a lone wolf."

"Understandable, a lot of Hunters think that way." Cayde said before leaning forward. "So tell me, Echo, what does it mean to be a Hunter?"

**A/N**

**And that's a wrap people. Thank you so much for reading this story. I did my best to update this story quickly, very quickly in fact. I think this is one of the fastest times I've updated a story. **

**This chapter was fun to write. Echo's first time in the Tower as well as a look into the background of Thalia. I felt someone deserved some more development. Fear not, the others will get their further development. You know, when they encounter Echo again after their grounding is over. **

**I will give you guys a heads up, next chapter is going to have a time skip of a year. I terms of Destiny, that puts it right at the end House of Wolves and the near the beginning of Taken King. **

**So what did you guys think? Like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Leave me a comment/review or shoot me a PM if that's more your style.**

**Thanks again for giving this story a read and remember have a great day.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N**

**Hello everybody. It is good to be back. Thank you so much for reading this story. I'm glad you guys are enjoying as much as I am enjoying writing this. I posted the last chapter rather quickly, something I don't do, well, ever. So while I will most likely not be keeping up this trend, I will do my best to update as soon as possible. Also on a side note, I'm not sure what to think of this chapter. To me, it doesn't feel like its on par with the other chapter but that's for you to decide.**

**Now as I mentioned in the last chapter there will a time skip this chapter that will lead to around the start of the Taken King, apologizes to anyone who wanted to wanted to see Echo go up against the House of Wolves and Skolas but that's the job of your own Guardian in the game. Echo and other Guardians are here mopping up what's left of the house. Anyways, Disclaimer time.**

**Disclaimer: Destiny belongs to Bungie and its respective developers. I only own a few characters and the plot of this story. **

**Now onto the story. **

_Time skip: One Year Later_

_Earth, European Dead Zone _

A lone Guardian stalks a Fallen House of Wolves hunting party from the inside of a half ruined building. These Fallen were part of the notorious Silent Fang from the Reef Wars. They had been hunting the Guardian for some time but the tables have turns. Now, it is their turn to be hunted. The Guardian smiles as looks down at his prey. The Guardian wore mostly black Iron Companion armor, a set of armor a friend had give him when they first met. The cloak he was given was replaced for a cloak that every Hunter called an Unbelievably Old Cloak that now matched his armor in colour with a device peaking over his left shoulder. When asked about the device, he insists that its a wi-fi hotspot not that many people understood what that was. His loadout consisted of a Tamar-D Sniper Rifle and a suppressed sidearm with his Ghost having more weapons stored. A full year has past since he was brought back from the dead. In that time, the Hunter had become an skilled Bladedancer and his Light burn bright although not as bright as other Guardians as he didn't spend much time honing his Light in Crucible and spent most of his time in the wild. He knew his abilities and their limitations and he knew how to make the best of his abilities.

"Ready, Echo?" The Hunter's Ghost asked.

"Do you even need to ask?" Echo said as he peered through scope and lined it up with the Captain's head.

"No but I like to check." His Ghost, Epsilon, said as Echo fired the first shot. It tore through the Captain's shield and the armor piercing round penetrated its helmet, doing a considerable amount of damage to its lower face but not killing the Captain. The second shot, removed the Captain's head entirely, its soul quickly leaving its body. The rest of the Vandals quickly turned to figure out where the shots came from. Before they could locate the shooter, another bullet ripped through the air and tore through a Vandal's skull. That gave away his position as they quickly turned to return fire. The hail of Shock projectiles harmlessly splattered against the wall and ceiling inside. When no gunfire was returned, they assumed they got shooter and were about to move on when a grenade came out of nowhere and stick itself on the leading Vandal's face. It started to screech when the grenade went off, effectively silencing it. The explosion injured another Vandal that couldn't get far enough way from its now deceased comrade. Seemingly out of nowhere, the Guardian they were hunting appeared out of thin air and blinked forward, plunging his knife into another Vandal's throat before disappearing again. The remaining Silent Fang took this as a sign to cloak and hunt down the Guardian. For the next couple minutes, the Silent Fang played cat and mouse with the Hunter, unaware that they were the mouse in the situation. One by one, they fell. Each time, the Vandals grew more and more desperate. Until the remaining few trapped themselves in a room that only had two entrances, the door they had come through and the window. In the hallway, they set up laser tripmines and mines meant to slow. However, in their desperate attempt to fortify the entrance to the room, they failed to notice the cloaked Hunter slip into the room through the window. By the time they realized their mistake, it was too late. Echo had already sprung into action. His first action, which uncloaked him, were two bullets from his suppressed sidearm to back of the head to the Vandal closest to him. Before they could react, Echo's Blink Strike got him to the other side of the small room and his knife into the Vandal's throat. The last Vandal swung around attack him only to receive a bullet to its shoulder, staggering the Vandal back. Looking back at the Hunter, his sidearm was leveled at its head.

"The Queen sends her regards." With that, Echo fired the next round into the Vandal's head. Echo looked at around at his handiwork and sighed. Retrieving his knife from the other Vandal's throat, he put an extra bullet into the head of the Vandal he had just shot to make sure it was dead. He's been attacked by Vandals, Dregs, and Captains that he's thought he's killed more times than he would like to admit. "Alright, Epsilon, we're done here. Call in down the ship." As he made his way to the roof.

"Already en route." Epsilon replied. "Where are we heading?"

"To the Vestian Outpost. We have to report Petra and tell her that the Silent Fang group that's been stirring the Devils here have been dealt with." Echo said eyeing the Ketch in the distance as he got outside.

"You sure you don't want to on that Ketch?" Epsilon asked jokingly.

"No, not this time." Echo chuckled. "Maybe next time, though. Last thing I need is Cayde grounding us for raiding a Fallen Ketch without him."

"He really doesn't like being stuck at Tower."

"No, he doesn't." Echo said as he made his way to the roof of the building. After a few minutes of waiting, his ship came in flying fast and low to avoid the Fallen AA gun. They were out of range for the Ketch to fire them and it made no attempt to get closer. With Echo on board, the Guardian quickly made his way to the Vestian Outpost just as another Fallen Ketch entered the air space.

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_Vestian Outpost, Asteroid Belt, The Reef_

Echo transmatted onto the outpost platform and quickly made his way to the Petra Venj to report the success of his mission. There were few Guardians at the Vestian Outpost. There were never many Guardians at the Reef, not anymore. Most who visited use were Awoken Guardians who had lived in the Reef prior to their death. The others were Guardians, like Echo, that continued to offer their assistance to the Reef, even after the recapture and death of Skolas in the Prison of Elders at the hands of the same Guardian that killed Crota and Atheon. Echo wondered if he would one day be able to meet whoever that Guardian was. They had made a quite a name for themselves.

"Ah, Echo, it's good to see you again. I trust you were able to take care of those Wolves?"

"Yeah, the Silent Fang in the European Dead Zone won't be stirring up the Devils anytime soon."

"That's good to hear. I wish I could have been out there. Its been so long since I've had field work." Petra said. The two Queen's Guards near her snickered. "Come walk with me." She motioned to Echo before turning toward the two Queen's Guards standing at the terminals. "Let me know if something comes up." They both nodded and the Queen's Wrath and the Hunter walked away. "Nothing ever happens, not anymore. After that Guardian killed Skolas, things have been rather dull around here." Perta sighed. "The Wolves are broken and scattered, you Guardians are off rushing toward the next threat and tackling it head on and things go back to the way they were before here at the Reef." Echo can only feel bad for his friend. She longed for the of excitement and adventure that being out on the field brought.

"Well why not take some time off and come back to the Tower. You still have a home there." Echo said.

"You're one to talk. When was the last time you went back to Tower?"

"That's a bit unfair. You know I prefer being out in the field." Echo said while Petra halfheartedly glared at him for trying to get out of the question. "Fine. About a month and a half."

"A month and a half?!" Petra almost yelled.

"Two months actually." Epsilon said appearing in front of them.

"Two months?!" Petra was basically yelling at this point. "Any reason why you haven't returned?" Petra asked.

"The Vanguard hasn't called me back plus I haven't needed to resupply on ammo or anything so I have no reason to go back unless it's to report to them, which I can just do on the radio."

"And you wanted me to come back to the Tower." Petra chuckled, greeting Brother Vance as they passed by him, who bowed to them. "So when do you plan on going back to the Tower?"

"Eventually. I'll let Epsilon decide when we want to go back."

"We'll head back once our inventory is full. No reason to go back unless they need us." Epsilon answered. To that, Petra nodded. They continued to walk around talking, Petra couldn't help but noticed the glances and occasional glares they were getting from the other members Queen's Guard, not that she could really blame them. Unlike her, they had not lived among the Guardians for years and didn't trust them. They looked upon most Guardians, especially Awoken Guardians, with a disgust or as if they were an annoyance or even inferior to them, even Guardians, like Echo, that were regularly there to help them. She remembered when she was like that. When she let her pride guide her actions and didn't care about Guardians. She assumed they knew what she did and ended up giving the order that resulted in the deaths of nine Guardians and their Ghosts and her banishment from the Reef. She couldn't stop her sisters from doing what they did. They knew little of the Guardians and the way they did things. All they have ever known were the ways of the Awoken. For now, she hoped that one day they would be more accepting of the bearers of Light.

"Petra, Crows have spotted another pack of Wolves on Venus. Send Guardian, yes?" Variks said over the comms, drawing out the 's' due to the way he pronounced words.

"Thank you, Variks. I have a Guardian with me who would be more than happy to deal with those Wolves for us. Keep me updated on if you pick up anything else."

"As you wish, Petra." With that, the comms went silent.

"Guess you got a job for me?" Echo said as the two started walking back to where Petra monitors the comms.

"You guessed correct. The Prince's Crows have spotted another pack of Wolves on Venus. Clearing them out shouldn't be too much of a hassle for you, right Echo?" As they were walking, a group of Awoken rushed across the platform and made their way to a section of the station that was off limits to Guardians. At the same time, a few of the Awoken fighters that had been docked in the hanger were quickly occupied and began running pre-flight checks.

"No, I've been meaning to go back to Venus anyways." Echo said as he watched one of the fighter take off and join a squadron that passed the hanger. "Looks like things are picking up here."

"It certainly seems that way. I'll see what's going on. For now, you need to get going, Echo. Deal with those Wolves before they go to ground. I'll give you more specific instructions while on the way to Venus." Perta said as they reached where she was standing prior to Echo's arrival. "And please, stay safe out there." If there was one thing she learned while living at the Tower, it was that Hunters had the highest permanent fatalities of the three classes Guardians due their roles as scouts and that many of them were loners and the number only grew. Echo smiled and nodded.

"I always am. See you when I get back." Echo said. Behind him, Petra noticed three blue flashes of a fireteam of Guardians transmatting onto the platform. "Epsilon." With that, Echo transmatted to his ship. Petra sighed and turned her attention to the new fireteam of the Guardians who were looking in her general direction, assuming they noticed Echo leaving the station.

"Guardians, what brings you to the Reef?" Petra called out to them. The three Guardians looked around to make sure it was them who were being called before walked over with the Warlock leading. "I don't believe we've met before. I'm Petra Venj."

"No, I don't believe we have. My name is Hecate." The Warlock responded. "That's Thalia and he's Atlas." The Hunter and the Titan nodded to the Awoken. "We wanted to see if you needed any assistance." Petra stopped for a moment as the names sounded familiar to her but ignored it when she couldn't figure out from where.

"Sorry, Guardians, we're out of bounties. One of your Guardians just took the last bounty. If you still looking for something to do, you can test your Light in the Prison of Elders. Just go see Variks."

"Thank you." As the Guardians walked off to talk to Variks, one of the comm officers called out to Perta.

"Ma'am, you have a Guardian on comms waiting to speak to you." The Awoken said. "It's Echo, ma'am."

"Put him through." Petra said pressing her comm device in her ear. Unknown to them, they caught the attention of Thalia, who slowed her pace to try to hear the conversation. "Echo, sorry about the wait. A new fireteam of Guardians just showed up as you left." There was pause as Echo replied and Petra walked over to the screen of the terminal. "It seems that the pack of Wolves you're looking for is splitting into two groups. The first group has already landed at the Citadel and is currently engaging the Vex. The second group is landing at the Shattered Coast and making a push against the House of Winter and the Vex inside the academy. Are sure you can handle both groups? I can scramble another team of Guardians to deal with the other." Another pause. "Alright, we'll play it your way. I'll have Variks monitor the comms to see if we can figure out what the Fallen are planning. Good luck out there, Echo." There was a small pause before Perta smiled and let out a small chuckle. "I guess you Hunters do make your own luck. Be safe out there." There was once again short pause before the comm line was shut off. Thalia was about to walk off when Petra called out to her. "I know you were listening. Is there something I can help you with, Guardian?" Thalia cursed under her breath for getting caught and walked over to the Queen's Wrath.

"Sorry for listening in. I just heard the name Echo and thought you were talking to a friend of ours. He's a Hunter in black armor. Tends to keep his helmet on most of time, has dark brown hair and eyes, looks around the same age as me."

"Is his Ghost named Epsilon?"

"Yeah, that's him." Thalia said with a little more excitement than she intended. "When was the last time you saw him? I've been looking for him for awhile."

"He was actually the Guardian that was talking to me right before you three came over to talk to me. Why? When was the time you saw him?"

"At least six months ago. The bastard is at Tower as often as Cayde is out on the field." Thalia swore. Hecate seemed to notice the Hunter talking to Queen's Wrath and walked over to see what they were talking about.

"Yeah, he mentioned that he hasn't been to the Tower in a couple of months. Can't say it surprises me. He was barely at the Tower when I use to live there and he made it a point to come bother me whenever he was restocking. Of course, this was before he started taking long term scouting and search-and-destroy missions and spending all his time in wilds."

"Have you finally found a lead to help you find Echo, Thalia?" Hecate said causing them to turn to face the Warlock.

"Worse, we just missed him. He was here when we landed and that Guardian we watched leave was him." Thalia said before swearing under her breath.

"Really? That's rather unfortunate. Well we ran him into him once and almost caught up with him today, we'll get him next time." Hecate said.

"So why are you looking for him? Is he in trouble with the Vanguard or the Speaker?" Petra asked wondering what kind of deed Echo could have done to warrant a fireteam looking for him. Unfortunately, Hunter have a tendency to get in trouble for a lot of things so the list was rather long. "Did he steal another book from the Speaker?"

"No, we're more worried than anything else. We haven't seen him in months and he spends so long in the field on his own that we end up losing contact with him. I guess we're just a little concerned because we were the fireteam that brought him out of New York. Don't want to see our hard work go to waste."

"Oh." Petra said as the realization dawned on her on where she had heard their names before. "You're Fireteam Mystic. Echo has mentioned you three. I was wondering where I heard the names before."

"Good to know he hasn't forgotten about us." Thalia muttered. "So when did you meet him?"

"We met awhile back, back when he was still rather new. We've come a long way since then." Petra thought back to how she met the Hunter. "Believe it or not, I couldn't stand him when we first met."

"Neither could Atlas. Still can't, actually." Thalia chuckled. "What changed?"

"I don't know really. One day, I just started to become more tolerable of him. Echo insists it was after the night we ran into each other in the City but I'm not sure. I can't remember that night that well." Petra said. In truth, she remembered what happened and Epsilon confirmed it for her the morning after but she'll let Echo explain it. "You'll have to ask Echo or Epsilon next time you see them."

"But who knows the next time we'll see them. Can't you just tell us?" Thalia groaned. Like many Hunters, Thalia enjoyed a good story as much as she loved telling them and hates it when she knows there's a good story but doesn't get to hear it.

"Trust me, Echo tells it a lot better than I do. Also, it seems your Titan is waiting for you two." Petra said as the point to the Awoken Titan standing off to the side, waiting for his teammates to finish talking.

"Fine but mark my words, we will hear that story." Thalia swore, earning her a few chuckles.

"We'll see you around, Petra." Hecate said as she and Thalia waved goodbye.

"Until next time, Guardians. Checking in later and I might have a job for you if Echo has taken them all." Petra said. They gave her a thumbs up and joined their third party member before transmatting back to their ship to head to the Prison of Elders. A few seconds later, her comms beeped indicating to her someone was trying to get in contact. She automatically knew who it was. There were few Guardians that worked with them and the rest were almost done or done with their missions. Pressing her comm link, Petra answered the call. "Alright, Echo, let's see how far those Wolves have gotten."

**A/N**

**And that's a wrap. Thank you so much for reading. As I mentioned before, I don't know how I feel about this chapter but I really do hope you all like it. I'm kinda excited for next chapter and this general story arc. I got some ideas that I want to get out of my head that mainly deal with this story arc. I have no idea how long this story arc but I'll have Echo travelling to other planets so that'll be fun. As I'm not going to explain how Echo and Petra met or the events of the night. I implied things happened but I leave it up to your imagination to come up with your own events of what happened.**

**So what do you guys think about this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Comment/review or shoot me a PM if that's more your style. I really do want to hear from you guys.**

**Anyways, that'll for this chapter. Thanks again and as always, have a great day.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey there, everybody. Thank you so much for reading this story. It really does mean a lot to me. I love reading the reviews you guys send. They always make me smile or laugh. It's great seeing you guys and girls enjoying my story. Thank you so much to all those that reviewed, followed, and/or favorite. I love seeing what you guys have to say about this story and am greatly appreciative of the support you guys have given me. Now onto the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: Destiny belongs to Bungie and its respective developers. All I own is the plot of this story and some of the characters. **

**Now onto the story. **

_Asteroid Belt, The Reef _

Echo sat in his ship as it drifted aimlessly through space as he had shut down the engines and watched the stars go by, unsure of what to do next. He had arrived at the Vestian Outpost with the purpose of reporting to Petra the success of his mission only to find her worrying over her latest orders from the Queen of the Reef. She had been ordered to stay behind as the Queen and the Awoken Fleet took off toward Saturn to face something that was a threat to the entire system and hasn't reported in yet. While he had never met Mara Sov personally, he knew she had a plan and there was a reason to why she refuse to let Petra accompany her on her mission. Fortunately, Echo was able to calm Petra down and assured her that it wasn't because the Queen viewed Petra as unfit to serve by her side but despite his best efforts, he knew she was still somewhat worried, even if she didn't show it anymore. After comforting Petra, she had told Echo that the remaining Wolves have gone to ground and there were no more bounties for him to do but assured him that she would contact him as soon as she had work and that he was always welcome at the Reef, even if it was mainly just her and a few others that have warmed up to him and not the Awoken as a whole.

Now here he was, watching the stars and debris float by in the strange glow that surrounded the Reef. For the past two and a half months, Echo had been assisting the Reef since the Wolves rebelled and now his service had come to an end. He wasn't sure on what to do. As he watched the stars drift by, he felt his eye lids grow heavy and realized just how tired he was. _'__Why am I so tired? When was the last time I went to sleep?'_ He couldn't remember. Echo always had trouble sleeping. Most Hunters did. However, Echo had a feeling that he had always been an insomniac, even before he was a Guardian. _'Questions for later.' _He thought to himself. _'For now, I think I'll sleep.'_ With that, he drifted off into sleep, Epsilon quickly taking control of the ship to ensure it didn't crash into the debris floating in the Reef.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Echo, or the man he use to be, was lying on his stomach peering through his sniper scope. He was positioned in one of the remaining tall buildings in the area. What was left of the US military in the area were now focused on the evacuation of citizens. But he wasn't searching the large mass of citizens for potential threats. No, h__e was searching the evacuating citizens for a single person, a real needle in the haystack. He was searching for his wife._

_"What are you doing?" a voice on the other side of the room. It was his partner. He noticed that Echo was looking the completely wrong way when he looked up from his binoculars._

_"My wife is down there. I'm trying to see if I can see her before she leaves."_

_"Dude, there are like, over a thousand people in that crowd. I'm pretty sure the entire of populate of New York is down there. It'll be like trying to find a needle in a haystack the size of the United States."_

_"Yeah, yeah, we'll see." Echo said as he continued to the searching the crowd. "Just keep eye and ear out. I heard the General was repositioning companies to the front lines for when those aliens finally show up." His spotter gave him the thumbs up and went back to looking through his binoculars. Seeing some kind of commotion toward the front of the crowd, Echo shifted his gaze to get a closer look. At the front of the crowd, he saw a handful of soldiers escorting a few families and citizens into a few VTOLs. It seemed the military showing special priority to these few families was getting a rise out of the other citizens but the military police, equipped in full riot gear, was holding the line and the other officers had already begun trying to calm the crowd. His crosshairs finally fell on her, currently being escorted and helped onboard was his wife. He couldn't help but smile. She was beautiful, just like always. He wanted nothing more to be down there and leave with her but he couldn't. He had his orders and lives were depending on him. They both knew it, no matter hard they didn't want to accept it. He had to pull a few strings and call in a few favors to get his wife onboard but he had done it and while the gods and the other civilians would damn him to the deepest pit of hell, he didn't regret it. He watch as the ship closed its boarding hatch and quickly ascended with a few other aircraft that acted as an escort. Knowing she was safe, Echo got up and joined his partner._

_"Finally gave up on looking for her?"_

_"No, I watched her board a Hawk and take off."_

_"Shit, man, you found her? In all of that?" His partner was amazed Echo's ability to someone in a crowd. "Remind me again why I'm the spotter?"  
_

_"Because you couldn't hit a target if it was five feet in front of you and not moving."_

_"It was one time." his partner groaned. "You alright?"_

_"Yeah, I just wanna get this over with." The distant sound of gunfire drew their attention. Not even a few seconds later, his partner's radio came to life._

_"This is Foxtrot 5-1, we've engaged a large number of enemy combatants at checkpoint alpha. Requesting immediate reinforcements." _

_"Copy that, Foxtrot. Kilo company, you boys are up. Give them hell out there, Marines." the General's voice came over the radio next."_

_"Wilco, Command. Blackburn, Parker, pack it up and get your asses down here."_

_"You heard the man. Let's get out there and kick these fuckers out of our city." His partner, Parker said. Echo, or Blackburn as was his last name, nodded and packed up his gear. Once they had everything, they made their way downstairs to street level._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Echo! Echo! Wake up!" the voice came into in all garbled and echoed in his head. Opening his eyes slowly, he saw his Ghost floating above him. "Finally, you're awake."

"Epsilon? What's up?" Echo said as he sat up and tried rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Find that not working, Echo shook his head in hopes of removing the clouds that still occupied his eyes. For the first time in awhile, he was actually having a good dream, not that he could remember any of it. All he could remember was being high up with his rifle and he was looking for someone.

"Zavala just called. You've been recalled to Tower."

"What? Why?"

"Something about a mission. Better get there quick. It sounded urgent. Course is already plotted and we're ready to jump."

"Thanks, Epsilon." Echo said as his Ghost blink. "Alright, punch it." With that, his ship, the Glariole Jump as Amanda had so kindly told him it was called, jumped into to FTL.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_The Tower, The City, Earth _

Unlike most Guardians that transmatted directly to the courtyard, Echo preferred transmatting in the hanger, right by his ship. Most of the Guardians that did this were Guardians who had lost their Ghosts and were unable to transmat to and from their ship while others just like leaving their ship manually as most of those Guardians were pilots in their previous lives and the act brought them comfort in a way. Sprinting away from his ship, Echo leaped up from the hanger floor to the platform above using his double jump. As he pulled himself over the railing, he heard someone yell at him from the hanger floor.

"Goddammit, Echo! What have I told you Hunters about using my hanger as jungle gym?"

"Sorry, Amanda!" Echo yelled back as started taking off toward the courtyard.

"Stop apologizing and listen for once." Amanda voice called out him. "And tell Cayde he still owes me glimmer."

"Got it." Echo called out as he turned the corner and ran through the scanners. As he ran passed, the frames in the hallway greeted him before continuing their assigned task. "Alright, Epsilon, let's split up the chores. Which ones do you want?" Echo said, slowing down as he entered the courtyard.

"I guess I'll take going to see the Cryptarch and the Gunsmith." That left Echo with seeing the Postmaster and speaking to the Vanguard. "We need more Sapphire wire to repair your armor and you want some more weapon parts to make those modifications to your sidearm. I still don't understand why you want a flashlight on your sidearm. I do the exact same thing as a flashlight."

"I know you can but when we're in dark places with Hive or Fallen, I can use that instead of having you floating over my shoulder and worry about them making a grab for you again." Echo explained. "A flashlight can be replaced, you can't."

"Aww, you do care." Epsilon teased as he materialized next to Echo. "I'll meet you back at our room when we're done." Echo nodded and the two separated. Knowing the Vanguard briefing was more important, Echo made a beeline straight to the Hall of the Vanguard. As he passed, Echo gave a silent greeting to Shaxx who returned the gesture with a nod. Entering the Hall of the Vanguard, the three Vanguards looked up from their respective tasks and looked at him.

"Echo, thank you for joining us on such short notice. I apologize if this meeting interrupts your current employment at the Reef but this is urgent." Zavala said as he stood with his hands grasped behind his back.

"No problem at all, sir. My employment with them has come to a halt. The remaining members of the House of Wolves has gone underground so hunting them isn't an option for the time being." Echo said as he stood at the end of the table, saluting to Zavala at the other end of the table. Zavala nodded in acknowledgement. Giving a bow to Ikora and a nod to Cayde, Echo turned his attention back to the Commander. "So why was I called back?"

"You've proved yourself a capable Guardian and an asset to the City. We felt that is was time to put your knowledge and skills to their best possible use." Ikora said as she typed a few things into the datapad she was holding.

"What do you mean?"

"You're going home, Echo." Cayde said. "You're being deployed to New York."

"Indeed. We've been getting strange transmissions from New York. The Fallen houses there are in complete panic. Something is stirring the houses there and according to transmissions, hundreds of Fallen from the House of Devils alone have gone missing and they're blaming the other houses." Zavala explained. Normally, I'd say let them wipe each other out but our numbers in area are too few to take advantage of the situation. We don't even have enough Guardians on the ground to get a picture of what's happening, that's why we need you there. You know the city better than any Guardian already there. We need you to get in there and get us a better look of what's happening in that city. See what high value targets appear and try to figure out what's causing the disappearance of those Fallen." Zavala said. Echo thought about this

"How many Guardians are currently deployed there and why can't they handle it?" Echo asked.

"Around 15 other Guardians, most of them are Hunters. They're too spread out and don't know the city as well as you or the Fallen do. It would take them too long to find their way to the objective and they're more likely to get caught." Cayde answered.

"So don't rely on them for back-up, got it. So how long has this been going on?"

"A few days at most. We started getting word of this yesterday. We have no explanation for that many Fallen disappearing in such a short amount of time." Ikora said.

"Do we have any idea of what might be causing the disturbance?"

"No. However, a Cabal base on Phobos has just entered red alert and are on the verge of calling in a full-scale withdrawal. We called back one of our best Guardians to send them to investigate." Zavala said. "This is a top priority mission, Hunter. We need you on the ground immediately."

"Guess I better get started then." Echo said. "Commander. Ma'am. Oh and Cayde, Amanda wants her glimmer." Bidding each of them farewell, Echo quickly went back to his room to meet up with his Ghost. Navigating through the crowd, Echo first stopped off at the Postmaster to make sure nothing had arrived for him. Oddly enough, there was a single package waiting him. Accepting it, Echo said goodbye and left. The trip to his room was quick and less of a hassle as there weren't many other Guardians on his floor. Entering his room, he found his Ghost organizing the supplies around the room. In the year since he had first taken up residence in the room, his room has changed from the spartan room he first walked into a room that he something he was proud of. He had made a makeshift workbench in the main room.

"Welcome back, Echo. I trust the meeting with the Vanguard went well." Epsilon said as it looked up at its charge.

"Oh, it went fine." Echo said he removed his helmet carefully placed on the table.

"I sensing a 'but' coming up."

"_However_, we've been selected for a top priority mission back in New York City."

"Wait, we're going back?"

"Yup. Something is stirring up the Fallen houses in the old city and tensions between them are at an all time high. Hundreds of Devils have just vanished and no one knows why, not even the Warlocks. The Devils are blaming the other houses and the other house are blaming everyone else for their missing members. We've been tasked with observing the situation, find out what's causing the Fallen to break their cease fire, and identify HVTs if and when they show up." Echo explained.

"Interesting." His Ghost said as it thought about what this could be causing this. "So what do we do when we do see an target?"

"I don't know. I guess we just call it in and wait for what they say."

"Alright so when do we start?"

"Immediately." Echo said. Epsilon just sighed, or at least the Ghost equivalent of a sigh

"What are we bringing?" Epsilon asked. Echo thought for a moment as he thought about what kind of equipment he would need for this. After a minute, he came to his decision.

"We'll bring Angel's Advocate, Tamar-D, and Zombie Apocalypse." Echo listed off. "Oh and Tormod's Bellows, just in case."

"Should I even ask about Huntress?" Epsilon asked, referencing to the modified sidearm that has never left his side.

"Of course, she's coming. I don't go anywhere with out her." Echo said with a smile as he spun the sidearm on his index finger. "Speaking about weapons, I need to go make some modifications to the gear I'm bring."

"At least I'll have time to finished organizing things while you do that. Want me to repair your armor in the meantime?" Epsilon asked.

"Please." Echo said and a second later, he was in his civilian clothing. "Thanks, bud."

"The weapons you asked for are waiting for you by the workbench." His Ghost said. "And don't set off blow yourself up again. I'm still finding bullet bits around the place." While the small explosion didn't hurt anyone, it did leave a rather large mess that took the two of them a full couple of days to clean up and they were still finding bits and pieces everywhere.

"No promises." Echo called back as he picked up his Scout Rifle and set it on the table. Epsilon just let off a small chuckle or the Ghost equivalent of it and went back to organizing the things he had picked up.

After a few hour, Echo was back in his armor with his Ghost hovering next to him. As they arrived in the hanger just as his ship was brought up on the lift. Checking to make sure Amanda wasn't around, he jump over the railing down to floor and made a beeline for his ship. Transmatting inside, Echo and Epsilon ran through their pre-flight checks to make sure everything was working order and soon enough they were away, heading skyward to low orbit.

**A/N**

**And that's a wrap. Thank you so much for reading this story. Things have slowed down a bit for this chapter but fear not, things will pick up once more in the next chapter. In all honesty, this chapter was fun to write. Got to see a little bit more into Echo's life before he died, which, in my opinion, is always interesting to write. **

**Now this is where I need your help. I have no idea how to come up with a name for a Fallen Kell or Baron. If you have suggestions, please leave a review or shoot me a PM. I would be greatly appreciative.**

**So what did you guys think about this chapter. Like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Comment/Review or shoot me a PM if that's more your style. I love hearing from you.**

**Anyways, that's it for this chapter. I will see you next time. Thanks again and as always, have a great day.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N**

**Hey everybody. Thank you so much for reading this story. I'll be honest, I have no idea how to continue this. I want to thank everyone who did give me a suggestion on names for Fallen leadership. You guys are lifesavers with that. I really can't thank you enough. Now to do my part and write you an interesting chapter to show the start of the Taken King. Anyways disclaimer time.**

**Disclaimer: Destiny belongs to Bungie and it's respective developers. All I own is the plot of this story and some of the characters.**

**Now onto the story. **

_Manhattan, Old New York _

Echo transmatted on the small shore he and Fireteam Mystic were extracted from when he was first revived. Taking a looking around, he entered the beached boat they had stored supplies in and made sure everything was still inside. See that the Fallen haven't stolen anything, he made sure he was filled up on ammo while his Ghost transmatted new boxes of ammo in to replace the ones they already had here. Once fully stocked, Echo jumped up to the street and could see the wrecks of the two Spider Walkers from their last fight before leaving the city.

"Are you ready for this?" Epsilon asked.

"Yeah. Monitor Fallen comm chatter and get me a location of where I can find each of the houses. I'm also going to need a list of all of the houses that are in this location."

"There are three main Fallen houses at play in the area, main one being House of Devils. Besides them, you have the House of Rogues and the House of Royals. The rest are smaller house that are barely holding together. Most don't even have a Prime Servitor or Kell. Just a Baron or two. I'd suggest you focus on the main three." Epsilon answered.

"Alright, how do I find them?" Ghost said as he started running. He wanted to avoid as many patrols as possible so he was making a beeline straight to the subway.

"House of Royals are best distinguished by their colour, purple, if you're wondering. If you start seeing purple crates or Fallen wearing purple, you're in their territory. House of Rogues are bit trickier. Rogues also use the colour red but their colour is darker than the Devil's so I'd keep an eye out for their symbol." On Echo's HUD, the House of Rogues's symbol appeared as a reference.

"Got it." Echo said. Looking at his radar, he saw it ping something before it disappeared.

"Heads up. Looks like Fallen have upped security in this area after our last visit." Epsilon warned him. As if on cue, a Stealth Vandal uncloaked and jumped at him. Sidestepping the slash. Echo swapped to his knife and Huntress, the sidearm given to him by Thalia. Slashing at one of the arms of the Vandal, Echo caused the Vandal to drop one of its Shock Swords before sweeping its leg out from under it. Before it had a chance to recover, Echo fired a single round from his sidearm into its head.

"Anymore?"

"None at the moment. You didn't exactly give it a change to call for help. You better get to the subway if you want avoid anymore patrols though."

"Agreed. Keep an ear out and tell where I can find those houses." Echo said. The run didn't take long as Echo quickly made his way down to the First ave station. Once down below, Epsilon was about to appear to act as a light but was stopped by the Echo. "Hold up. I got this." Turning on the flashlight on Huntress, he pointed it down the tunnel, illuminating the tunnel for several meters ahead of them.

"I can do that." He heard Epsilon grumble himself, making the Hunter laugh.

"I know you can, Epsilon, but I can't afford to lose you. Any word on those Fallen houses?"

"Possibly. If I'm translating this correctly, it looks the House of Rogues are using place marked as Columbus Circle as a forward outpost in case fighting with the Devils resumes but their main base seems to be in the north part of the park, on top to the tallest hill in the park. Any idea where that is?"

"I think so. I know that area of the of park was suppose to be like the woods or forest. What else?"

"Cayde's scouts have reported that the Devils have control of half of the island and a few of the surrounding boroughs. We're actually currently in Devil territory. Scout reports suggest that the Devil's base of operation is on one of the smaller islands around Manhattan in an old fort at the edge of the island, although which island it is isn't listed." Echo thought about it for short while as he moved through the tunnels before he came to a conclusion in his head.

"Might be Governor's Island. We'll have to check it out. What about the House of Royals?"

"Getting to them is going to be tricky. The Royals are the ones in control of the New York Crater at the moment. They had taken it from the Devils a few years ago and spent the time fortifying it. The place is a fortress."

"Alright, we'll worry about that later. Now we'll start with the Rogues." Echo said he got to the Third Avenue station. As nothing appeared on radar, he kept moving toward the Union Square. If he was to get to Central Park in time to do any kind of scouting, he would have to hurry. He had a long walk ahead of him. "Let me know if you hear anything about Rogue's leadership. Epsilon just acknowledged and went quiet as he went back to examining Fallen comms chatter.

After a couple of hours of travelling and avoiding Fallen patrols, Echo soon found himself laying down in a familiar setting as he laid down in a broken building, using the holes in the walls for line of sight to observe the Fallen forward outpost. The outpost had a good number of Fallen, mostly Dregs and Vandals with a more than a few Captains wandering about. The one thing that really bothered Echo were the two Spider Walkers that were providing extra security.

"That's strange."

"What's up, Epsilon?" Echo asked, not taking his eyes off the outpost.

"Fallen comm chatter indicates more Fallen coming to reinforce this position."

"I thought you had said this was a forward outpost in case fighting started again. How is reinforcements strange?"

"They're not from the House of Rogues." Echo's eyes widened as the first of the new group of Fallen arrived. Several skiffs appeared, displayed the symbol of the House of Royals, and dropped off multiple waves of Dregs and Vandals before finally a Fallen Baron exited the ship. Once the Royal's ships were gone, several more skiff appeared, these displaying the House of Devils symbol dropping off more Fallen and ended with a Baron.

"Epsilon, what's going on?"

"If I'm translating this correctly, each of the three main houses has sent a representative for some kind of meeting the Rogues are holding in that outpost."

"Who are reps?"

"For the Royals, it's a Baron by the name of Korviks, the Rogue representative is a Baron named Mellon, an odd name for a Fallen Baron but who are we to judge, and the lastly, the Devil's Baron is named..." Epsilon said while translating the last of the transmissions. "Tohniks. Shall I call it in?"

"Do it." Echo said as brought out his sniper rifle and got ready. Epsilon didn't need to be told twice as he appeared next to Echo and expanded his shell.

"Epsilon, what news do you bring?" Ikora's voice came up the radio.

"Oh, Ikora. I was expecting Commander Zavala."

"Zavala is currently monitoring the progress of the Guardian we sent to Phobos with Eris so it was either Cayde or myself to monitor your progress and I don't trust Cayde to take the matter seriously." Ikora said with a brief shout of protest from Cayde in the background.

"Right. Anyway, Echo and I have are currently looking at the forward outpost for the House of Rogues but it seems they're holding some kind of meeting."

"Oh? And who is attending this meeting?"

"It seems to be Barons from the three major houses have gathered here."

"Interesting. Determine the nature of the meeting and-"

"Epsilon, what the hell is that?" Echo said. Epsilon quickly looked around to see the floating orbs of light near the three Barons. Suddenly, tendrils appeared from the orbs and grabbed each of the Barons. The Fallen Barons put up a struggle against tendrils but the in the end it was all for naught as they were pulled into the orbs and disappeared. The surrounding Fallen all started screeching and the pointing their weapons at each other until the more of the orbs began showing up and pulling more of the Fallen in. It was then that Zavala's voice came over to the comms.

"Guardian, abort mission. I repeat, abort mission. Get out of there." Zavala yelled. Looking back at the scene before him, only the Dregs of each house remained. The Dregs tensed as the orbs turned only for them to seemingly release the Vandals and Captains they had taken earlier, only now they were blueish black with the colour fading until it became white at legs. The most unnerving thing about them was the single glowing and unblinking eye. However, as unnerving as the twitching Fallen were, the Dregs seemed to relax a bit and drop their guard. "All Guardians, return to Tower. I repeat, all Guardians are to return to the Tower immediately. Fireteams in the New York area, do not engage these 'Taken' unless completely necessary." As if that were a cue, the new form of the Fallen opened fire on their former troops, the first volley ripping through many of the unsuspecting Dregs.

"Holy shit." Echo said in shock. "Epsilon, we need to go. We need to go NOW!" Epsilon quickly disappeared into the Hunter as he scrambled to his feet. Grabbing his sniper rifle, Echo attached it to his back and took off running.

"Echo, I'm picking up reports of fighting breaking out all over the area." Epsilon notified him. Echo didn't bother to respond and focused solely on the task at hand, getting the hell out of there. Seeing three Taken Vandals appear in front of him, Echo drew Huntress and started firing without stopping. While most of the shots missed, enough rounds found their mark in each and cleared the way for the Hunter. Dropping the spent magazine from his sidearm, Echo inserted a fresh one and pulled the slide back, knowing full well that there was no way he was getting out of the city that easily. Pinging multiple hostiles on his motion tracker, Echo mentally cursed, hating the fact that he was right in this situation. As he turned the corner, the once quiet derelict city had become a massive warzone. Taken and Fallen were on opposite sides of the street, trading firing with one another. What little Vandal's hadn't been taken were in the buildings firing down at the Taken Hive in the streets below or trading fire with the Taken Vandals in the building across from them. Continuing down the street he was running down originally, he soon found himself with front row seat of a massive Taken Ogre fighting three Spider Walkers, though the word 'fighting' was used very loosely in the context of what he witnessed. The Ogre charged menacingly toward the Fallen walkers as they fired away at it, each tank shell it was hit only serving to anger the monstrosity off. The first walker to fall victim to it was given a quick destruction as it slammed its hands down on the front of the Spider Walker, caving in the hull and destroying the core in a singular hit. The second walker fared no better as it was easily thrashed by the beast as it ripped off the walker's main cannon burned a hole through it with its gaze. The third one was in the process of backing away as the swarm of Shanks that the three Spider Walkers had released were swat away as if they were no more than insects before the Taken monstrosity was finally upon the final Spider Walker. The Ogre quickly took hold of the walker and ripped off one of the legs with a angry roar. As it did so, Fallen troops had taken up positions in the nearby building and began raining down a hail of arc bolts at the Ogre. One of the shoots must have gotten lucky as the Ogre let out a pained roar and turn its anger toward the Fallen troops in the building. Picking up the damaged walker, the Ogre threw the walker into the building, ceasing any fire coming from it and collapsing part of the building with it. As if that wasn't enough, the Ogre followed behind the walker and slammed down on the turned over Spider Walker with all of its rage, destroying it and what was left of the building collapsed in on itself from the force of the blow, sending a cloud of dust that into the air. For a moment, there was only the sound of distant firefights until another massive roar filled the air and shook every living being within a 100 meters to it's core. Out of the cloud of dust, the Ogre emerged, angrier than before and its sights set on the one thing that pissed it off the more than the tanks, Echo's Light.

"Oh you've gotta be fucking kidding me." Echo said as he immediately took off running. The Ogre let out another roar as it fired it's beam at the bearer of Light. With the Ogre following his scent and Echo running harder than he had ever in run in both lives, several more Taken began to appear in his path. "No, no, no, I do not have time for this." He jumped over a group and of them and drop his grenade on them. As more and more spawned from whatever dimension they were taken to, Echo knew he had no choice but to use his Arc Blade. Bursting with arc energy, Echo carved a path through newly spawning Taken, thanks to Razor's Edge and just him shooting past enemies as he continued to cut through the crowd at high speeds. However, just as he could see the end of the horde of Taken, his Light gave out and his arc blade ended. Luckily for him, he was able to get off a Blink Strike before the Taken could swarm him, triggering his cloak, giving him the cover he needed for the last push out of the horde. Rounding a corner just as his cloak wore off, Echo pushed his body to it's limits as he forced himself to keep running and fighting whenever something got in his way.

Echo wasn't sure how long he was running and shooting but eventually he was forced to stop to catch his breath inside of a building with less than a magazine of ammo for Huntress and the Ogre was no longer following him as Fallen Skiffs showed up and trying to kill him and the Ogre, drawing the Ogre's attention away from him. From what he could hear outside, the sound of fighting was no longer there and all that was left was silence, something he wasn't sure if he should take comfort in or curse at. His breathing was heavy and as his throat burned from running so much. Epsilon quickly materialized in front of Echo and went to work on scanning him to make sure he was alright. Echo wanted to protest and tell Epsilon to stay hidden but between how dry his throat and mouth were and the lack of oxygen in his lungs, he could get no words to form.

"Echo, you need to rest. You pushed yourself too hard." Epsilon said as he materialized a canteen in front of Echo, which the Guardian quickly snatched and drank greedily from.

"No, we have to keep moving." Echo managed to get out as he tried to force himself up.

"If you push yourself any harder, you're going to pass out from exhaustion and then neither of us are getting out of the city." Epsilon argued back. Echo reluctantly agreed, settle back down on the floor.

"Epsilon, any word from the Vanguard?" Echo asked after a few minutes of rest.

"Nothing and I haven't been able to raise the Tower either. It seems we're on our own out here."

"What are about the other Guardians scatter throughout the city?" Epsilon's shell expanded as the Ghost began to scanning.

"The Darkness here is stopping me from picking up the Light of any other Guardian. We can only hope that they got out already."

"Agreed." Echo said before getting up. "We should get moving. The Vanguard needs to know what happened here." Epsilon agreed and disappeared from sight as Echo holstered Huntress and swapped to his Angel's Advocate. Heading outside, Echo quickly made his way down 14th street without encountering further complications. The only thing that bothered him was the silence that had consumed the city. Besides his own breathing and footsteps, no sounds could be hear. No distant firefights between the Fallen and Taken, no sounds of wildlife, nothing. Passing by the destroyed Spider Walker they destroyed a year ago, Echo was almost at the beach when he came in view of an orb of some kind of black liquid substance floating a few feet off the ground. Leveling his scout rifle, Echo slowly approached the orb. As he got closer, the orb expanded until it disappeared with a bang and was replaced by the Taken Korviks. Korviks had been changed by the whatever force had taken him as he now resembled an Archon in height and build. Echo didn't hesitate and immediately opened fire on the Taken Baron, each bullet find their mark in the Taken's head before it raised one of it's arms to cover it's face. Getting annoyed with the persisting fire from the Guardian, the Taken Baron threw some kind of plume of Darkness at the Hunter. Not wanting find out what happens if he were to get hit with it, Echo dove to the side, tossing a Flux Grenade in the process. The glowing blue explosive attached itself to one of the arms as it tried to swat the grenade away. When the grenade went off, it took the Baron's arm off in the bright flash of arc energy. Korviks roared in pain and looked at Echo with all of it's hate, firing away at the Hunter with it's sharpnel launcher and throwing more Darkness Bolts but the Guardian proved to be too elusive as he easily dodged each projectile and returned fire with his rifle. After taking a considerable amount of damage from the Hunter's repeated small arms fire, Korviks's frustration with the bearer of Light reach it's limit. Throwing another Darkness Bolt at the Guardian, he teleported forward as Echo dodge and backhanded the Guardian, sending him flying into the destroyed walker, denting the rusting hull. Echo let out a pained groan as he tried to force himself to get up but before he could get out of the Guardian sized dent, Korviks had marched over and wrapped it's hand around the Guardian's torso and picked him up. Lifting him up, Korviks slammed the Hunter back into the rusted metal chassis causing Echo to let out a pained yell. For Echo, as soon as his back hit the hull, he spat out blood all over the inside of his helmet. Feeling him being picked up again, Echo muttered something to Epsilon. The Taken Baron lifted the Guardian up to his face and held him there. Echo slowly raised his head and looked at the him through the blood splattered visor.

"Any last words, asshole?" The Taken Baron continued to look at him in silence, its head twitching every couple of seconds. "No? Your loss." Echo said through clenched teeth as he stabbed his knife deep into the Korviks's hand causing him to roar in pain. In his surprise and pain, Korviks tossed Echo back, who quickly pulled out the newly materialized Tormod's Bellows while in the air and took aim. "Suck it!" Echo shouted as he pulled the trigger, sending the cluster bomb rocket into Korviks head, completely removing the Baron's head and causing the Taken Fallen to disintegrate into nothing. Echo was barely able recover from being tossed and the recoil of the rocket in time and managed to roll to a crouch when he hit the floor again, sliding a couple of feet and using his hand to slow himself before finally coming to a full stop. Epsilon had, thankfully, dematerialized the launcher so it didn't get in the way of Echo's recover. Slowly rising to his feet, Echo winced in pain, knowing full well a few of his ribs were broken fro when he was slammed into the destroyed walker.

"That was rather impressive." Epsilon said causing Echo to let out a chuckled only to be quickly followed by a pained noise.

"Oh don't make me laugh. My lungs and ribs are barely holding together as is." Echo said as he winced in pain. "Let's get out while we still have a chance." Echo made his way to edge of the street and over to the beach from before just as his ship slowed to a hover. Transmatting into his ship, Echo took manual control of the ship and piloted back home to the Tower.

**A/N**

**And that's a wrap people. Thank you so for being here and I am so sorry for the nearly four month wait. I didn't realize it had been that long since I last updated and added with the fact that Destiny hasn't been holding my attention until recently and me not sure how to continue this chapter, this chapter has been sitting on my doc manager, a quarter of the way finished, for nearly four months. I really do thank you all for your saint-like patience with me. **

**Now, onto the events of this chapter. I really want to know what you all thought of the events that transpired here. Between the Ogre tearing shit up, Echo's escape from the city, and the fight with Korviks, things turned out pretty eventful this chapter. The other Barons will come into play in later chapters as well as the Ogre but I have an interesting idea, at least it is for me, for the how they're going to fight the Ogre. **

**So what did everyone think of this chapter in a more general sense? Like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Leave a comment/review and let me know or shoot me a PM if that's more your style. I do reply to those. **

**Anyways thanks again and as always have a great day.**


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